After
Pick a Colour
Souvankham Thammavongsa2025
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing slower
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan2021
A coal merchant in 1980s Ireland discovers a girl locked in a convent shed. He must decide whether to intervene or stay silent.
Same tender register, still literary
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Book of Form and Emptiness
Ruth Ozeki2021
A boy begins to hear the voices of inanimate objects after his father dies. He finds refuge in a public library with a book that talks to him.
Same tender register, still literary
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Dream Count
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie2025
Four women navigate love, career, and family across Nigeria and America. The narrative focuses on their internal reflections and shared history.
Same tender register, still literary
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon1973
During the end of WWII, an American lieutenant's sexual encounters seem to predict where German V-2 rockets will fall. The narrative is fragmented.
tender → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+2prose+1bleak+3
A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James2014
A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.
tender → propulsive
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
tender → playful
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner1929
The decline of a Southern family told through four perspectives, including a non-linear stream of consciousness from a man with a disability.
tender → elegiac
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Doris Lessing1971
A man is found wandering London and placed in a psychiatric ward. The narrative shifts between the hospital and his internal cosmic hallucinations.
tender → dreamlike
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q. Sutanto2021
A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.
tender → playful
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-1bleak+2
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
tender → tense
pace+3·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-1bleak+1
Candide
Voltaire
A naive young man travels the world while his tutor insists that everything is for the best. He encounters a series of global catastrophes.
tender → sardonic
pace+3·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
tender → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tender → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
Bewilderment
Richard Powers2021
An astrobiologist uses experimental neurofeedback to treat his son's emotional outbursts while they mourn the boy's mother.
tender → elegiac, still literary
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
The Road
Cormac McCarthy2006
A father and son walk through a landscape of ash and scavengers toward the coast. They carry only what fits in a shopping cart.
tender → bleak, still literary
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
The Association of Small Bombs
Karan Mahajan2016
The narrative follows the victims, survivors, and perpetrators of a terrorist bombing in Delhi. It examines the long-term psychological fallout.
tender → bleak, still literary
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
tender → bleak
pace+2·prose0·bleak+3
