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After

The Schooldays of Jesus

J. M. Coetzee2016

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Invisible Man

    Ralph Ellison1953

    A Black man recounts his life from the South to Harlem. He navigates various social movements and ideologies that fail to see his humanity.

    Same meditative register, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    meditative → sardonic, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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+1·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+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Fifty Shades of Grey

    E.L. James2000

    A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.

    meditative → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    meditative → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Ready Player One

    Ernest Cline2008

    A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    meditative → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    meditative → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Elizabeth Costello

    J. M. Coetzee2003

    An elderly novelist travels the world giving academic lectures on animals, realism, and evil. The book is structured as a series of formal speeches.

    Same meditative register, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    meditative → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • Satin Island

    Tom McCarthy2015

    A corporate ethnographer in London attempts to write a report that summarizes the current era. He wanders, observes, and overanalyzes data.

    meditative → clinical, still philosophical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

Heavier

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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.

    meditative → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Nickel Boys

    Colson Whitehead2019

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

    meditative → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Shuggie Bain

    Douglas Stuart2020

    A young boy grows up in 1980s Glasgow public housing. He tries to support his mother as she struggles with severe alcoholism and poverty.

    meditative → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1