LitQueuelitqueue

After

Shuggie Bain

Douglas Stuart2020

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Gabriel's Lament

    Paul Bailey1986

    Gabriel grows up in the shadow of his father's sudden wealth and his mother's disappearance. He navigates a life shaped by long-held delusions.

    bleak → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Brother. do. you. love. me

    Manni Coe2022

    A man moves to a cottage to care for his brother who has Down syndrome. They navigate daily life and reconnect through art and nature.

    bleak → tender, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-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.

    bleak → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • 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.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Duke and I

    Julia Quinn2000

    A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.

    bleak → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Red Lily

    Nora Roberts2005

    A single mother in Tennessee falls for her employer's son while a century-old ghost possesses her. It is the final book in a trilogy.

    bleak → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • The American Roommate Experiment

    Elena Armas2022

    A writer with a collapsed ceiling shares a studio with her friend's cousin. They start a fake dating experiment to cure her writer's block.

    bleak → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    bleak → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2

  • 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.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    bleak → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

Slower

3 more ↓

  • On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

    Ocean Vuong2019

    A son writes a letter to his illiterate mother, recounting his family's history in Vietnam and his own experiences growing up in America.

    bleak → elegiac, still coming of age

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

  • Blackouts

    Justin Torres2023

    A young man cares for a dying elder in a medical facility. They use a 1930s study on homosexuality to reconstruct their personal histories.

    bleak → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-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.

    bleak → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1