More diverse alternatives to...

The Last Execution
by Jesper Wung Sung

MoreScore: 1 white cis-male undisclosed tragedy historical Denmark Capital Punishment Ethics 144 pages

On February 22, 1853, a fifteen-year-old Niels Nelson is prepared to be executed on Gallows Hill. The master carpenter comes to measure Niels for his coffin. The master baker bakes bread for the spectators. The messenger posts the notice of execution in the town square. The poet prepares his best pen to record the events as they unfold. A fly, Niels’s only companion in the cell, buzzes. Niels Nielson, a young peasant, was sentenced to death by beheading on the dubious charges of arson and murder. Does he have the right to live despite what he is accused of?

The Last Execution
by Jesper Wung Sung

MoreScore: 1 white cis-male undisclosed tragedy historical Denmark Capital Punishment Ethics 144 pages

Filter Alternatives by Protagonist Identity
The Garden of Forking Paths
by Jorge Luis Borges

Featured Book MoreScore: 3 non-white cis-male undisclosed tragedy magical realism multiple dimensions world war II writing 180 pages

A literary puzzle of alternate endings and inescapable fate.

The Garden of Forking Paths
by Jorge Luis Borges

Featured Book MoreScore: 3 non-white cis-male undisclosed tragedy magical realism multiple dimensions world war II writing 180 pages

A literary puzzle of alternate endings and inescapable fate.

The Last Leaves Falling
by Fox Benwell

MoreScore: 3 non-white cis-male undisclosed tragedy realistic Japan Japanese Assisted Suicide 368 pages

A teen grapples with ALS and his decision to die in this debut novel infused with the haunting grace of Japanese poetry and the noble importance of friendship. Sora is going to die, and he’s only seventeen years old. Diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, he’s already lost the use of his legs, which means he can no longer attend school. Seeking a sense of normality, Sora visits teen chat rooms online and finally finds what he’s been longing for: friendship without pity. As much as he loves his new friends, he can’t ignore what’s ahead. Inspired by the death poems of the legendary Japanese warriors known as samurai, Sora makes the decision to leave life on his own terms. And he needs his friends to help him.

The Last Leaves Falling
by Fox Benwell

MoreScore: 3 non-white cis-male undisclosed tragedy realistic Japan Japanese Assisted Suicide 368 pages

A teen grapples with ALS and his decision to die in this debut novel infused with the haunting grace of Japanese poetry and the noble importance of friendship. Sora is going to die, and he’s only seventeen years old. Diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, he’s already lost the use of his legs, which means he can no longer attend school. Seeking a sense of normality, Sora visits teen chat rooms online and finally finds what he’s been longing for: friendship without pity. As much as he loves his new friends, he can’t ignore what’s ahead. Inspired by the death poems of the legendary Japanese warriors known as samurai, Sora makes the decision to leave life on his own terms. And he needs his friends to help him.

Passing
by Nella Larsen

MoreScore: 3 non-white cis-female straight tragedy realistic Harlem African-American Racial Passing 94 pages

Married to a successful physician and prominently ensconced in Harlem's vibrant society of the 1920s, Irene Redfield leads a charmed existence-until she is shaken out of it by a chance encounter with a childhood friend, Clare Kendry, who has been passing for white. After much reluctance, Clare and Irene restart their friendship leading to a tragic end.

Passing
by Nella Larsen

MoreScore: 3 non-white cis-female straight tragedy realistic Harlem African-American Racial Passing 94 pages

Married to a successful physician and prominently ensconced in Harlem's vibrant society of the 1920s, Irene Redfield leads a charmed existence-until she is shaken out of it by a chance encounter with a childhood friend, Clare Kendry, who has been passing for white. After much reluctance, Clare and Irene restart their friendship leading to a tragic end.

Death and the King’s Horseman
by Wole Soyinka

Featured Book MoreScore: 2 non-white cis-male straight tragedy drama nigeria duty colonialism 77 pages

Based on events that occurred in 1946 in Oyo, Nigeria. The king has died and Elesin Oba, his chief horseman, is expected by law and custom to commit suicide and accompany his ruler to heaven. The local British colonial official decides to intervene but then Elesin's son arrives home.

Death and the King’s Horseman
by Wole Soyinka

Featured Book MoreScore: 2 non-white cis-male straight tragedy drama nigeria duty colonialism 77 pages

Based on events that occurred in 1946 in Oyo, Nigeria. The king has died and Elesin Oba, his chief horseman, is expected by law and custom to commit suicide and accompany his ruler to heaven. The local British colonial official decides to intervene but then Elesin's son arrives home.

LaRose
by Louise Erdrich

MoreScore: 2 non-white cis-male straight tragedy realistic North Dakota Ojibwa Indians Death 400 pages

Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of town. He shoots with easy confidence—but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he’s hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. He has killed his neighbor’s five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich. Horrified at what he’s done turns to an Ojibwe tradition—the sweat lodge—for guidance, and finds a way forward. He will give his son LaRose to the grieving Ravich family.

LaRose
by Louise Erdrich

MoreScore: 2 non-white cis-male straight tragedy realistic North Dakota Ojibwa Indians Death 400 pages

Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of town. He shoots with easy confidence—but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he’s hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. He has killed his neighbor’s five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich. Horrified at what he’s done turns to an Ojibwe tradition—the sweat lodge—for guidance, and finds a way forward. He will give his son LaRose to the grieving Ravich family.

Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe

Featured Book MoreScore: 2 non-white cis-male straight tragedy historical nigeria colonialism fate 148 pages Lexile: 890L

Christianity and British colonial government are invading the Nigerian town of Umuofia. Okonkwo, a leader in the community does his best to navigate the changing cultural reality while trying to remain true to his heritage.

Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe

Featured Book MoreScore: 2 non-white cis-male straight tragedy historical nigeria colonialism fate 148 pages Lexile: 890L

Christianity and British colonial government are invading the Nigerian town of Umuofia. Okonkwo, a leader in the community does his best to navigate the changing cultural reality while trying to remain true to his heritage.

Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy romance Russia Stream of Consciousness Adultery 1061 pages Lexile: 1080L

Anna Karenina is the tragic story of Countess Anna Karenina, a married noblewoman and socialite, and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. Vronsky is eager to marry her if she will agree to leave her husband Count Karenin, a senior government official, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church, her own insecurities, and Karenin's indecision.

Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy romance Russia Stream of Consciousness Adultery 1061 pages Lexile: 1080L

Anna Karenina is the tragic story of Countess Anna Karenina, a married noblewoman and socialite, and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. Vronsky is eager to marry her if she will agree to leave her husband Count Karenin, a senior government official, but she is vulnerable to the pressures of Russian social norms, the moral laws of the Russian Orthodox Church, her own insecurities, and Karenin's indecision.

Antigone
by Sophocles

Featured Book MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy drama greece duty women 28 pages

The princess Antigone sacrificed her own life in order to honor her brother murdered and left unburied. Torn between duty to her uncle the king, love for her brother, and her duty to the gods, Antigone symbolizes the often tragic conflict between love and duty between honor and the law.

Antigone
by Sophocles

Featured Book MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy drama greece duty women 28 pages

The princess Antigone sacrificed her own life in order to honor her brother murdered and left unburied. Torn between duty to her uncle the king, love for her brother, and her duty to the gods, Antigone symbolizes the often tragic conflict between love and duty between honor and the law.

The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy drama depression disability love 247 pages

Amanda Wingfield comforts herself with recollections of her earlier, more gracious life in Blue Mountain when she was pursued by 'gentleman callers'. Her son Tome, poet with a job in a warehouse, longs for adventure and escape from his mother's suffocating embrace, while Laura, her shy crippled daughter, has her glass menagerie and her memories.

The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy drama depression disability love 247 pages

Amanda Wingfield comforts herself with recollections of her earlier, more gracious life in Blue Mountain when she was pursued by 'gentleman callers'. Her son Tome, poet with a job in a warehouse, longs for adventure and escape from his mother's suffocating embrace, while Laura, her shy crippled daughter, has her glass menagerie and her memories.

Our Town: A Play in Three Acts
by Thornton Wilder

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy drama women death small towns 208 pages

A metatheatrical play, set in the actual theatre where it is being performed. The main character is the stage manager of the theatre who directly addresses the audience, brings in guest lecturers, fields questions from the audience, and fills in playing some of the roles.This Pulitzer Prize- winning drama of life in the small village of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic.

Our Town: A Play in Three Acts
by Thornton Wilder

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy drama women death small towns 208 pages

A metatheatrical play, set in the actual theatre where it is being performed. The main character is the stage manager of the theatre who directly addresses the audience, brings in guest lecturers, fields questions from the audience, and fills in playing some of the roles.This Pulitzer Prize- winning drama of life in the small village of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic.

The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy rural Congo Missionaries Post-colonialism 576 pages Lexile: 960L

The Poisonwood Bible is a story of an evangelical Baptist family and their four daughters who travel on a mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver

MoreScore: 1 white cis-female straight tragedy rural Congo Missionaries Post-colonialism 576 pages Lexile: 960L

The Poisonwood Bible is a story of an evangelical Baptist family and their four daughters who travel on a mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

The Sound and the Fury
by William Faulker

MoreScore: 1 white cis-male undisclosed tragedy southern gothic american south disability racism 336 pages Lexile: 800L

The tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant.

The Sound and the Fury
by William Faulker

MoreScore: 1 white cis-male undisclosed tragedy southern gothic american south disability racism 336 pages Lexile: 800L

The tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant.