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The Cabal and Other Stories
Ellen Gilchrist
2000 · 288 pages · Literary fiction
How it reads
The Cabal and Other Stories is literary fiction (southern literary short stories, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in a rural setting, in the present day, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are family, identity and love. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. At 288 pages it's a quick read. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something melancholy
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something funny or hopeful
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- literary fiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- rural
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- melancholy
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Ending style
- ambiguous
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
Light Can Be Both Wave and ParticleEllen GilchristShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
No Place, LouisianaMartin PoussonShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
Last ThingsJenny OffillShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
Our Wives Under the SeaJulia ArmfieldShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn- WitchesBrenda LozanoShares: literary fiction, heavy and literary tone, slow burn, ambiguous ending
- The Paper YearAvery AsterShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
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