A Maravilhosa Viagem de Nils Holgersson através da Suécia by Selma Lagerlöf
Published 2008 · 407 pages · 111,925 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Children's Literature, Fantasy
How hard is A Maravilhosa Viagem de Nils Holgersson através da Suécia to read?
A Maravilhosa Viagem de Nils Holgersson através da Suécia scores 26 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 32 out of 100
- Lagerlöf writes plain, clear prose for schoolchildren, with some Swedish place names and folk terms like tomte. It sits close to the accessible fiction of Judy Blume, a little richer for the nature and regional vocabulary.
- Sentence structure: 30 out of 100
- Sentences are straightforward and storylike, with occasional longer descriptive passages of landscape. Syntax is simpler than Gatsby's and closer to Beach Read in ease.
- Abstraction: 28 out of 100
- The book stays concrete: a boy, a goose, a flight, named places. Its moral growth is shown through events, as in Asterix the Gaul but with more reflection.
- Information density: 40 out of 100
- It packs in Swedish geography, history, folklore and animal lore across a long journey. The pace is gentle, so it is denser than Beach Read but lighter than Anna Karenina.
- Narrative indirection: 22 out of 100
- The narrator tells the story plainly and states its lessons about kindness. Little must be inferred, and Nils's change is shown openly, as in Judy Blume.
- Symbolic density: 35 out of 100
- Flight, shrinking and the geese carry clear moral and national meanings. The symbolism is signposted rather than layered, lighter than 1984's allegory.
- Ironic distance: 14 out of 100
- The tone is earnest and warm, with mild humour at Nils's early nastiness. It is nearer Anne Frank's directness than any satire.
- Resolution withholding: 15 out of 100
- The journey closes with Nils's return home and his restored form, a fully resolved arc. It resembles the closure of a genre-expected happy ending.
- Structural complexity: 32 out of 100
- The structure is episodic, following the migration route province by province, with embedded legends. It is more varied than a linear romance like Beach Read but still easy to follow.
How A Maravilhosa Viagem de Nils Holgersson através da Suécia is regarded
A Maravilhosa Viagem de Nils Holgersson através da Suécia holds a literary regard score of 67 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.