LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Jane Austen Society

Natalie Jenner2020

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Boston Girl

    Anita Diamant2015

    An 85-year-old woman narrates her life story to her granddaughter, beginning with her youth as the daughter of Jewish immigrants in 1915 Boston.

    Same warm register, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    warm → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+3

  • 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.

    warm → sardonic, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+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.

    warm → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

    warm → sardonic

    pace+2·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.

    warm → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    warm → wry

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

warm → elegiac, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

    warm → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    warm → clinical

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

Heavier

warm → bleak, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • The Known World

    Edward P. Jones2003

    A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.

    warm → meditative, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • A Long Long Way

    Sebastian Barry2005

    A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.

    warm → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Brotherless Night

    V. V. Ganeshananthan2023

    A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.

    warm → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3