After
The Nest
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney2016
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
Same wry register, still satire
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Marina Lewycka2005
Two sisters unite to prevent their elderly father from marrying a much younger gold digger. The story includes a history of farm machinery.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Young Jane Young
Gabrielle Zevin2017
An intern has an affair with a married congressman. The story follows the aftermath of the scandal through the perspectives of several women.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Maria Semple2012
A daughter reconstructs her mother's disappearance using emails, letters, and FBI documents. The story follows the family's life in Seattle.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Nice Work
David Lodge1988
A feminist academic shadows a factory manager in an industrial city. The story contrasts university life with the world of business.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Nine Perfect Strangers
Liane Moriarty2018
Nine people gather at a remote health resort for a ten-day retreat. The unconventional methods of the director soon turn the stay into an ordeal.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner1915
The Bundren family travels by wagon to bury their matriarch. Fifteen different narrators describe the journey as the corpse decomposes.
wry → sardonic
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+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
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- 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.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
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.
wry → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+1prose0bleak+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+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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+1·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+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+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
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+1·prose-1·bleak0
Slower
- 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.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- 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.
wry → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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-2·prose+2·bleak+3
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
Revolutionary road
Richard Yates1961
A 1950s couple in the Connecticut suburbs attempts to escape their mundane lives through a move to Paris. Their marriage unravels in the process.
wry → bleak, still domestic drama
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
wry → sardonic, still satire
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
