LitQueuelitqueue

After

Swamplandia!

Karen Russell2011

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • The Enchanted

    Rene Denfeld2014

    A death row inmate narrates life in a stone prison through a lens of magical realism. An investigator seeks evidence to commute a killer's sentence.

    Same dreamlike register, still magical realism

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+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.

    Same dreamlike register

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Takeover

    T.L. Swan

    A billionaire attempts to acquire a widow's family company but ends up moving into her home. It follows their power struggle and her three sons.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • To Sir Phillip, With Love

    Julia Quinn2003

    Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.

    dreamlike → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Everything Beautiful in Its Time

    Jenna Bush Hager2020

    The author reflects on the lives and deaths of her grandparents, including a former President and First Lady. It is a series of personal essays.

    dreamlike → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

    dreamlike → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-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.

    dreamlike → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    dreamlike → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    dreamlike → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    dreamlike → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    dreamlike → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Shuggie Bain

    Douglas Stuart2020

    A young boy grows up in 1980s Glasgow public housing. He tries to support his mother as she struggles with severe alcoholism and poverty.

    dreamlike → bleak, still coming of age

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • 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.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still southern gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Ironweed

    William Kennedy1983

    A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.

    dreamlike → elegiac, still magical realism

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1