LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood2000

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Half of a Yellow Sun

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie2006

    Three characters navigate the Nigerian Civil War and the short-lived republic of Biafra. The story follows a houseboy, a twin, and an expatriate.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • This Other Eden

    Paul Harding2023

    A multiracial community on a small island off the coast of Maine faces forced displacement by state officials in the early 20th century.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Wake

    Paul Kingsnorth2014

    A landowner in 1066 leads a guerrilla resistance against Norman invaders. The story is written in a modified version of Old English.

    sardonic → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Beloved

    Toni Morrison1987

    A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection

    Carol Burnett2010

    The comedian shares anecdotes from her career in television and film. The book is a series of short chronological reflections.

    sardonic → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·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.

    Same sardonic register

    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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    sardonic → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Rhine Journey

    Ann Schlee1981

    A middle-aged woman travels by steamer down the Rhine in 1851. She observes her family and internalizes a chance encounter with a man from her past.

    sardonic → meditative, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • Gathering the Water

    Robert Edric2006

    In 1840s Yorkshire, a man oversees the flooding of a valley for a reservoir. He records the final days of a village and its remaining residents.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Prophets

    Robert Jones Jr.2021

    Two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation find refuge in their love for each other. Their relationship is threatened by a betrayal.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Deposition of Father McGreevy

    Brian O'Doherty2000

    A priest recounts the physical and moral decline of an isolated Irish village during a harsh winter in the 1940s.

    sardonic → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • A Fine Balance

    Rohinton Mistry1995

    Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.

    sardonic → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1