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As She Climbed Across the Table

Jonathan Lethem

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Similar in characterization + relationships

These books are ranked using the characterization + relationships labels extracted for As She Climbed Across the Table. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Characterization labels used: anthropologist narrator, particle physicist, academics, professors, quippy protagonist, dysfunctional characters, quirky characters, obsessive characters, spurned lover

Relationships labels used: romantic triangle, boyfriend-girlfriend, unrequited love, obsessive attachment, love rival, academic couple, breakup, possession and desire, dependency

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their characterization + relationships embeddings are close.

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The Distance of the Moon

Italo Calvino · 2018

A tiny collection of cosmic tales turns astronomy into whimsical, romantic, and philosophic short fiction.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: quirky characters · immortal being · narrator protagonist · unrequited lover · obsessive desire · self-contained character · eternal beings · personified celestial bodies · symbolic characters

Relationships labels: love triangle · unrequited love · romantic obsession · couple bickering · moon as beloved · family dynamics · jealousy · desire and loss · human-cosmic relationship · dependency

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1500

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What We Can Know

Ian McEwan · 2025

A future scholar hunts a vanished poem in a flooded Britain, uncovering buried truths about love, memory, and history.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: scholar · academic obsession · unlikable characters · morally compromised · romantic fixation · researcher protagonist · female perspective shift · obsessive narrator · psychologically complex

Relationships labels: marriage · infidelity · love triangle · academic partnership · lover relationship · power imbalance · family conflict · betrayal · obsession

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1687

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Rappaccini's Daughter

Nathaniel Hawthorne · 2004

A student in Padua falls for a mysterious woman raised in a deadly garden of poisonous plants.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: young student · beautiful heroine · mad scientist · rival scholar · morally ambiguous characters · naive protagonist · monomaniacal father · toxic heroine · scientific obsessor

Relationships labels: love triangle · father-daughter relationship · mentor-protégé · rivalry · toxic relationship · forbidden romance · obsessive attraction · parental control · betrayal · dependency

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1751

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The Coincidence Makers

Yoav Blum · 2018

A hidden workforce engineers everyday coincidences, and one dangerous assignment tests fate, love, and free will.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: young trainees · coincidence makers · imaginary friends · dream weavers · luck distributors · perfectionist · narcissistic · passive protagonist · quiet protagonist · flawed characters · relatable characters · quirky characters · endearing characters · emotionally broken · morally burdened · secretive character · love-struck character · bureaucratic workers

Relationships labels: love triangle · unrequited love · matchmaking · friendship trio · mentor-student · romantic yearning · dependency · rivalry · power imbalance · hidden attachment

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1772

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Hominids

Robert J. Sawyer · 2002 · Neanderthal Parallax

A Neanderthal scientist crosses into modern Canada, sparking a cross-cultural collision with a parallel human world.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: physicist protagonist · scientist protagonist · Neanderthal protagonist · female scientist · geneticist · anthropologist · accused partner · celebrity outsider · rational scientists

Relationships labels: partner relationship · man-mate · woman-mate · romantic tension · intercultural relationship · friendship · colleague relationship · trial of partner · power imbalance · sexual relationship

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1832

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The Glamour

Christopher Priest · 1984

An amnesiac cameraman retraces a lost period of his life, uncovering love, deception, and a reality no one can quite see.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: amnesiac protagonist · cameraman protagonist · controlling lover · mysterious lover · obsessive ex · unreliable character accounts · traumatized protagonist

Relationships labels: love triangle · romantic obsession · abusive relationship · controlling relationship · past lover · ex-boyfriend rivalry · reconciliation · sexual coercion

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1836

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Making History

Stephen Fry · 1996

A Cambridge historian and a physicist try to erase Hitler from history, only to unleash a worse alternate world.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: history student · graduate student · PhD candidate · physicist · professor · physicist scientist · Holocaust survivor · elderly · young adult · flawed protagonist · irritating protagonist · unsympathetic lead · wunderkind · hubristic · immature · self-deprecating · brutal antagonist · well-rounded characters

Relationships labels: romance · gay romance · heterosexual relationship · breakup · mentor-student · collaboration · academic partnership · friendship · familial guilt · parental trauma · power imbalance · partnership

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1850

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The Aliens' Mate

Delaney Rain · 2021

Abducted humans and alien prisoners escape together, then must survive a strange planet while love grows across a language barrier.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: human protagonist · gay protagonist · alien love interests · warrior · scholar · scientist · supporting women · secondary characters · gruff protector · gentle intellectual · strong female characters

Relationships labels: MMM triangle · polyamorous relationship · throuple · shared partner · interspecies romance · found family · romantic pairing · group survival · consensual sex · instalove

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1905

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Flashforward

Robert J. Sawyer · 2000

A CERN experiment triggers a global blackout and a glimpse of the future, forcing humanity to confront fate and free will.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: physicists · scientists · investigator · engaged couple · skeptical scientist · guilt-ridden scientist · flat characters · wooden characters · arrogant scientist · pompous scientist

Relationships labels: engagement · marriage tension · romantic triangle · fiance conflict · colleague partnership · scientific collaboration · family grief · friendship · power struggle

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1912

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Machines like Me

Ian McEwan · 2019

In alternate-1980s London, a drifter buys a lifelike android, and a love triangle exposes human and machine morality.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: drifter · day trader · failed entrepreneur · anthropologist · anthropology student · young student · synthetic human · android · humanlike robot · unlikeable characters · dull narrator · enigmatic woman · morally conflicted · directionless · self-deluding · lifelike machine · existential despair

Relationships labels: love triangle · romantic rivalry · interpersonal relations · affair · co-parenting · bonding · jealousy · betrayal · dependency · friendship · ownership · human-machine intimacy · adoption · power imbalance

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1919

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Bring the Jubilee

Ward Moore · 2001

In an alternate America where the Confederacy won, a bookish young historian is drawn toward a revelation that may reshape history.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: bookish protagonist · self-taught scholar · passive hero · dreamer · coming of age · intellectual outsider · historian protagonist · unlikely protagonist · flawed women · eccentric intellectuals · philosophical characters

Relationships labels: love triangle · romantic interests · mentor influence · friendship · intellectual community · community fellowship · power imbalance · dependency · secret organization

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1935

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The King in Yellow

Robert W. Chambers · 2017

Four linked weird-horror tales circle a cursed play whose second act drives readers into madness.

Why this is here

Characterization labels: mad narrator · artist · painter · sculptor · mental patient · model · organist · obsessive · paranoid · unhinged · delusional · unreliable witness

Relationships labels: love triangle · romantic obsession · friendship · rivalry · mentor influence · stalking · dependency · shared madness · power imbalance

Semantic match: ranked by characterization + relationships

Distance: 0.1936

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