After
The muses are heard
Truman Capote1956
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Foreign Affairs
Alison Lurie1984
Two American academics in London navigate unexpected romantic entanglements while conducting research.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Almost English
Charlotte Mendelson2013
A teenage girl living in a claustrophobic household of Hungarian exiles in London struggles to fit in at an elite boarding school.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Less
Andrew Sean Greer2017
A novelist nearing fifty travels around the world to avoid his ex-boyfriend's wedding. He visits several countries while reflecting on his career.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Rates of Exchange
Malcolm Bradbury1983
A British linguistics professor travels to a fictional Eastern Bloc country for a lecture tour. He navigates bureaucracy and cultural confusion.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
The Battle of Pollocks Crossing
J. L. Carr1985
A young English teacher spends a year in 1920s South Dakota. He encounters a series of local eccentrics and escalating frontier violence.
Same wry register, still satire
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
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.
wry → clinical, still historical
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
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.
wry → propulsive
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
wry → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
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.
wry → elegiac
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
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.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
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.
wry → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak+1
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.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+2
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
wry → tense
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
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.
wry → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
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.
wry → clinical, still historical
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
wry → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
wry → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
The Pale King
David Foster Wallace2011
An unfinished, experimental novel about the mundane daily operations of an IRS processing center in 1985 Illinois.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
wry → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
Heavier
wry → sardonic, still satire
- pace+1prose-1bleak+3
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut1969
Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
Dorian
Will Self2002
A modern retelling of Oscar Wilde's novel set in the London drug and art scenes of the 1980s. A video installation ages while the subject does not.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+3
The Lives of Others
Neel Mukherjee2014
A multi-generational family in 1960s Calcutta disintegrates while one grandson joins a violent Maoist insurgency. It tracks the family's collapse.
wry → bleak, still historical
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
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.
wry → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
wry → bleak
pace+1·prose0·bleak+3
