LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Testaments

Margaret Atwood2019

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Such a Fun Age

    Kiley Reid2019

    A white influencer tries to help her Black babysitter after a racial profiling incident. The plot explores the fallout of their differing reactions.

    Same sardonic register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

    A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

    sardonic → wry

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Playing with Fire

    Gena Showalter2006

    A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Digital Fortress

    Dan Brown1998

    The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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 dystopian

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+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.

    Same sardonic register

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+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.

    sardonic → clinical

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    sardonic → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • A Bend in the River

    V. S. Naipaul1979

    An Indian shopkeeper moves to a newly independent African nation. He observes the town's slow descent into chaos under a cult-of-personality leader.

    sardonic → cold, still political fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • J

    Howard Jacobson2014

    In a future where a past catastrophe is never named, two people with mysterious origins begin a relationship under constant surveillance.

    sardonic → cold, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Home Fire

    Kamila Shamsie2017

    Three British Muslim siblings deal with the fallout of their father's jihadi legacy. One sister tries to save her brother from a similar path.

    sardonic → tense, still political fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2