The Nix

Serenity House

Christopher Hope1992

An elderly man in a London retirement home hides his past as a Nazi doctor until an investigator arrives. It is a satire of English suburban life.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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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.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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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.

sardonic → clinical

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The Sea

John Banville2005

A widower returns to a coastal resort to reflect on a childhood summer and his wife's death. The narrator's memory is fluid and dense.

sardonic → elegiac, still literary fiction

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RoomHate

Penelope Ward2016

A woman returns to her childhood home and must share it with her former best friend. They navigate past betrayals and current attraction.

sardonic → warm

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Rich People Problems

Kevin Kwan2017

An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.

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Wielding a Red Sword

Piers Anthony1986

An Indian prince avoids an arranged marriage by accepting the supernatural office of War. He wields a sword that draws him into a conflict in Hell.

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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.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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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.

sardonic → tense

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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.

sardonic → propulsive

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Blackouts

Justin Torres2023

A young man cares for a dying elder in a medical facility. They use a 1930s study on homosexuality to reconstruct their personal histories.

sardonic → elegiac, still literary fiction

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The Waters of Kronos

Conrad Richter1960

An elderly man travels back in time to his childhood Pennsylvania town, which in his present day is submerged beneath a reservoir.

sardonic → elegiac, still literary fiction

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The story of a brief marriage

Anuk Arudpragasam2016

Two refugees enter an arranged marriage in a Sri Lankan camp during the final days of the civil war. It focuses on the physical details of survival.

sardonic → meditative, still literary fiction

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A Distant Shore

Caryl Phillips2003

A retired teacher and an African refugee form a quiet bond in a xenophobic English village. Their past traumas emerge through alternating stories.

sardonic → bleak, still literary fiction

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A Little Life

Hanya Yanagihara2015

Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.

sardonic → bleak, still literary fiction

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The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead2019

A studious black teenager in 1960s Florida is sent to a brutal reform school where physical abuse is systemic.

sardonic → elegiac, still literary fiction

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