After
Steps
Jerzy Kosiński1968
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
Maddie Mortimer2022
A woman with terminal cancer reflects on her life while the disease itself narrates parts of the story through experimental typography.
clinical → elegiac, still experimental
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Summertime
J. M. Coetzee2009
A biographer interviews five people who knew the late author John Coetzee. The book is a collection of these biased, often unflattering accounts.
Same clinical register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Schindler's Ark
Thomas Keneally1982
A German businessman uses his factory and connections to protect Jewish prisoners from execution in occupied Poland.
Same clinical register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-2
Trust
Hernán Díaz2022
Four different documents—a novel, a biography, a memoir, and a diary—examine the life of a 1920s financier and his wife.
Same clinical register, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak-2
1 more ↓ ↑
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The White Hotel
D. M. Thomas1981
A woman's life is told through poems, a Freudian case study, and a narrative. It moves from her sexual fantasies to her death in the Holocaust.
clinical → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
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.
clinical → sardonic, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace0prose+1bleak-1
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.
clinical → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
clinical → elegiac, still unreliable narrator
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
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.
clinical → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Neon Gods
Katee Robert2021
In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.
clinical → tense
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Starter Villain
John Scalzi2023
A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.
clinical → wry
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Playing with Fire
Gena Showalter2006
A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.
clinical → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
Digital Fortress
Dan Brown1998
The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
clinical → tense
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
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.
clinical → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
clinical → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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.
clinical → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
clinical → elegiac, still unreliable narrator
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
The Pale King
David Foster Wallace2011
An unfinished, experimental novel about the mundane daily operations of an IRS processing center in 1985 Illinois.
clinical → sardonic, still experimental
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak-1
Umbrella
Will Self2013
A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.
Same clinical register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
clinical → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
