After
The sum of our follies
Kow Shih-Li2014
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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The Names
Florence Knapp2025
Three alternate timelines follow a family over thirty-five years, each branching from a mother's choice of what to name her son.
melancholy → eerie, still literary
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Life, and Death, and Giants
Ron Rindo2025
An eight-foot-tall boy with supernatural abilities is raised by Amish grandparents. A local football coach discovers him working in a hay field.
melancholy → magical, still literary
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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Did You Ever Have a Family
Bill Clegg2015
After a house fire kills her entire family, a woman drives across the country to live in a motel. The story follows those left behind.
melancholy → elegiac, still literary
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
A sport and a pastime
James Salter1967
An unnamed narrator observes the sexual affair between an American college dropout and a French girl in 1960s France.
melancholy → dreamlike, still literary
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
melancholy → bleak, still literary
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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- pace-1prose+2bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
Beloved
Toni Morrison1987
A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.
melancholy → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
melancholy → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
melancholy → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
melancholy → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
melancholy → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
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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.
melancholy → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
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.
melancholy → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
melancholy → tense
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
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.
melancholy → sardonic
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
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.
melancholy → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
melancholy → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Slower
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A Passage North
Anuk Arudpragasam2021
Krishan travels by train from Colombo to a funeral in northern Sri Lanka. He spends the journey reflecting on a past love and the civil war.
melancholy → meditative, still literary
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
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My Brilliant Friend
Chiara Lagani2023
A graphic novel adaptation of Elena Ferrante's story about two girls growing up in a poor neighborhood in 1950s Naples.
melancholy → elegiac, still literary
pace-2·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+1bleak-2
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The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje1992
Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.
melancholy → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-2prose+1bleak0
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong2019
A son writes a letter to his illiterate mother, recounting his family's history in Vietnam and his own experiences growing up in America.
melancholy → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak0
Heavier
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Bewilderment
Richard Powers2021
An astrobiologist uses experimental neurofeedback to treat his son's emotional outbursts while they mourn the boy's mother.
melancholy → elegiac, still literary
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
melancholy → bleak, still literary
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
The Association of Small Bombs
Karan Mahajan2016
The narrative follows the victims, survivors, and perpetrators of a terrorist bombing in Delhi. It examines the long-term psychological fallout.
melancholy → bleak, still literary
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Because They Never Do
Patrick Erin Monaghan2002
melancholy → tense, still literary
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
melancholy → bleak
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
