After
Middlemarch
George Eliot1800
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden1997
A woman recounts her life from being sold into a Kyoto geisha house as a child to her training and eventual rivalry.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton1920
A man in 1870s New York high society prepares for marriage until his fiancée's cousin arrives. He must choose between social duty and desire.
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier1997
A deserting Confederate soldier walks home to North Carolina while the woman he loves struggles to maintain her farm.
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
No One Writes to the Colonel
Gabriel García Márquez2014
An impoverished retired colonel waits every Friday for a pension check that never arrives while caring for a prize fighting cock.
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories
Truman Capote
A writer recalls his time in a New York apartment building and his fascination with his neighbor, a socialite named Holly Golightly.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
Faster
elegiac → propulsive
- pace+2prose-3bleak0
Quantum Radio
A.G. Riddle2023
A scientist at CERN discovers a signal from a parallel universe. He must flee a conspiracy while exploring the implications of the data.
pace+2·prose-3·bleak0
- pace+2prose-3bleak0
Paper Princess
Erin Watt2016
An orphaned girl is taken in by a wealthy family with five hostile sons. She must navigate high school bullying and mansion politics.
pace+2·prose-3·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak0
Savage Prince
Meghan March2018
A powerful man in the New Orleans underworld becomes obsessed with a woman and pursues her despite the danger of his lifestyle.
pace+2·prose-3·bleak0
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)
Kresley Cole
A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.
elegiac → tense
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak0
Victory at Prescott High
C.M. Stunich
A high school girl seeks revenge against the boys who bullied her while navigating a complex relationship with all of them at once.
pace+2·prose-3·bleak0
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
Chemistry
Theodore L. Brown1977
A textbook covering the fundamental principles of matter, atomic structure, and chemical bonding. It includes practice problems and diagrams.
elegiac → educational
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-2bleak0
A Month in the Country
J. L. Carr1980
A WWI veteran spends a summer in a quiet village restoring a medieval mural in a church. He reflects on his trauma while observing local life.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose-2·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak+2
Kolyma tales
Varlam SHALAMOV1980
Short stories documenting daily life and survival in a Soviet labor camp. The prose is detached and focuses on the physical reality of starvation.
elegiac → clinical, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose-1bleak+1
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje1992
Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose-1·bleak+1
Heavier
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
Brokeback Mountain
Annie Proulx1997
Two ranch hands begin a secret sexual and emotional relationship in 1963 Wyoming. The story follows their occasional meetings over twenty years.
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose-2bleak+2
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway1929
An American ambulance driver and a British nurse conduct a love affair during the Italian campaign of World War I.
pace0·prose-2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë1846
Two families on the Yorkshire moors deal with the arrival and subsequent revenge of an adopted orphan. The story is told through nested narrators.
elegiac → bleak
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
A country girl is sent to claim kinship with wealthy relatives. Her life is derailed by a sequence of social betrayals and rigid moral standards.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose-2bleak+2
Bright Side
Kim Holden2014
An optimistic college student moves to Minnesota for a fresh start while hiding a terminal diagnosis from her best friend.
elegiac → tender
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+2
