LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Crucible

Arthur Miller1953

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same tense register

1 more ↓

  • Hour of the Witch

    Chris Bohjalian2021

    In 1662 Boston, a woman seeks a divorce from her violent husband while the community begins to suspect her of witchcraft.

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Denser prose

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.

    tense → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    tense → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

tense → playful

3 more ↓

  • Thoughtful

    S.C. Stephens2015

    Kellan Kyle falls for his best friend's girlfriend, Anna. The story retells the events of Thoughtless from Kellan's perspective.

    tense → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·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.

    pace0·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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    tense → sardonic

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    tense → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → clinical

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

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

    tense → bleak

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    tense → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Ethan Frome

    Edith Wharton1910

    A farmer trapped in a loveless marriage falls for his wife's cousin in a frozen New England town. A visiting engineer observes the aftermath.

    tense → bleak, still tragedy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • An Orchestra of Minorities

    Chigozie Obioma2019

    A Nigerian poultry farmer travels to Cyprus for an education to win over a wealthy woman's family. A guardian spirit narrates his misfortunes.

    tense → elegiac, still tragedy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Elected Member

    Bernice Rubens1969

    A brilliant barrister in a Jewish family descends into drug addiction and hallucinations. His family struggles with his decline and guilt.

    tense → bleak, still tragedy

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1