LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Leftovers

Tom Perrotta2011

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same meditative register, still contemporary

1 more ↓

  • Trail of Broken Wings

    Sejal Badani2015

    Three sisters return home after their abusive father falls into a coma. They confront their shared history and the secrets they kept to survive.

    meditative → earnest, still contemporary

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

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

    meditative → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+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.

    meditative → sardonic

    pace0·prose+2·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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • This Girl

    Colleen Hoover2013

    A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

    meditative → earnest

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Score

    Elle Kennedy2016

    A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

    meditative → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Where Angels Go

    Debbie Macomber2007

    Three angels descend to Earth during Christmas to intervene in the lives of a lonely elderly man, a fearful woman, and a young boy.

    meditative → warm

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    meditative → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Child 44

    Tom Rob Smith2008

    A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

    meditative → tense

    pace+2·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    meditative → sardonic

    pace+2·prose0·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    meditative → elegiac

    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.

    meditative → clinical

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    meditative → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Prophet Song

    Paul Lynch2023

    A mother struggles to keep her family together in Dublin as Ireland descends into a totalitarian police state. The prose uses no paragraph breaks.

    meditative → tense, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The New Wilderness

    Diane Cook2020

    A mother and daughter join a group living in the last remaining wilderness to escape a polluted city. They must survive the land and each other.

    meditative → bleak, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Oryx and Crake

    Margaret Atwood2003

    A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.

    meditative → sardonic, still dystopian

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1