After

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig2020

pace
prose
structure
bleakness

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

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The Invisible Hour
Alice Hoffman2023
A woman raised in a strict cult discovers a book that allows her to travel through time. She meets the author in the 19th century.
Same earnest register, still magical realism
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Carrie Soto Is Back
Taylor Jenkins Reid2022
A retired 37-year-old tennis champion returns to the professional tour for one year to defend her Grand Slam record from a rising star.
Same earnest register
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Where We Belong
Emily Giffin2012
A New York producer meets the daughter she gave up for adoption eighteen years ago. The story follows their attempt to build a relationship.
Same earnest register
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Nothing to See Here
Kevin Wilson2019
A woman is hired to care for two children who burst into flames when they get upset. She tries to keep them safe and hidden from the public.
earnest → wry, still magical realism
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1 more ↓

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Landline
Rainbow Rowell2014
A woman discovers a telephone that allows her to call her husband in the past. She uses it to attempt to fix their failing marriage.
earnest → warm, still magical realism
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Denser prose

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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.
earnest → playful
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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.
earnest → dreamlike
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3 more ↓

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Don Quixote
Kathy Acker1986
A woman undergoes an abortion and adopts the persona of Don Quixote to pursue a quest in a fragmented, postmodern landscape.
earnest → sardonic
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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.
earnest → sardonic
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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.
earnest → propulsive
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Faster

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Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q. Sutanto2021
A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.
earnest → playful
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Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
earnest → tense
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3 more ↓

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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.
earnest → sardonic
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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.
earnest → propulsive
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pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
earnest → wry
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Slower

pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Little, Big
John Crowley1981
A man marries into a family living in a massive house where the borders of the natural world blur. It follows several generations over a century.
earnest → dreamlike, still magical realism
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
earnest → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

3 more ↓

pace-2prose+2bleak+3
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
earnest → elegiac
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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.
earnest → clinical
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Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
earnest → bleak
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Heavier

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The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
earnest → bleak, still magical realism
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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.
earnest → elegiac, still magical realism
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3 more ↓

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The Summer that Melted Everything
Tiffany McDaniel2016
A boy claiming to be the devil arrives in a small Ohio town during a 1984 heatwave. His presence triggers a series of local tragedies.
earnest → elegiac, still magical realism
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
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The Road
Cormac McCarthy2006
A father and son walk through a landscape of ash and scavengers toward the coast. They carry only what fits in a shopping cart.
earnest → bleak
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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.
earnest → sardonic
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