According to Mark by Penelope Lively
Published 1984 · 221 pages · 72,419 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction
How hard is According to Mark to read?
According to Mark scores 72 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it very challenging. 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: 75 out of 100
- The text employs a rich and precise vocabulary, frequently incorporating specialized terminology from the art world, literary criticism, and especially horticulture (e.g., 'hypotaxis,' 'hagiography,' 'floribundas,' 'saxifrage'). While not archaic or invented, the consistent use of sophisticated and specific terms elevates the linguistic demands beyond typical contemporary fiction, placing it closer to the complexity of Moby-Dick or Gravity's Rainbow.
- Sentence structure: 78 out of 100
- Sentences are consistently long and intricate, characterized by extensive subordination, nested clauses, and frequent use of semi-colons to connect complex ideas. The narrative voice often employs sophisticated grammatical structures to convey nuanced thoughts and observations, requiring sustained reader attention to parse the flow of information, reminiscent of the demanding prose found in The Golden Bowl.
- Abstraction: 82 out of 100
- The narrative frequently delves into profound philosophical and theoretical questions concerning memory, truth, perception, identity, and the nature of biography and history. Mark's internal monologues and the narrator's observations consistently explore abstract concepts, weaving intellectual debates into the fabric of the story, making the content highly conceptual and comparable to the philosophical depth of Gravity's Rainbow or Brothers Karamazov.
- Information density: 80 out of 100
- The text is densely packed with details, observations, and internal reflections, interweaving multiple character perspectives, backstories, and intellectual themes. The rapid shifts between external events, internal thought, and descriptive passages, combined with a broad range of literary and historical allusions, demand high reader attention and active engagement to track the numerous concepts presented.
- Narrative indirection: 58 out of 100
- The narrative primarily employs a clear third-person limited perspective, granting direct access to characters' thoughts and motivations, particularly Mark's internal struggles and Diana's pragmatic assessments. While characters frequently misinterpret each other and themselves, the reader is generally provided sufficient information to understand the underlying dynamics, as seen in Mark's explicit reflections on the unreliability of testimony.
- Symbolic density: 70 out of 100
- The novel consistently employs motifs like plants and gardening (representing Carrie's natural, unpretentious world), books and biography (Mark's intellectual realm and the elusive nature of truth), and specific locations like Dean Close (Strong's legacy, a site of personal transformation). These elements frequently carry meaning beyond their literal function.
- Ironic distance: 75 out of 100
- The novel maintains a consistent, often subtle, ironic distance, particularly through the contrast between characters' self-perceptions and the author's portrayal. Mark's intellectualizing of his emotional 'illness' and Diana's pragmatic, sometimes oblivious, attempts at control are frequently presented with a knowing, understated humor.
- Resolution withholding: 78 out of 100
- The novel deliberately withholds definitive emotional and intellectual closure. Mark's profound infatuation with Carrie remains unresolved, merely shifting from active pursuit to a state of internal 'illness.' Carrie's new relationship with Nick, while promising, is framed by her internal reflections on 'worrying instability' and the transient nature of things, leaving her future happiness ambiguous.
- Structural complexity: 65 out of 100
- The novel exhibits moderate structural complexity through its consistent shifts in third-person limited perspective, primarily between Mark, Diana, and Carrie, offering varied internal experiences without disorienting the reader. While the timeline is largely linear, Mark's biographical work inherently involves non-linear exploration of Strong's life, creating a layered sense of past and present.
How According to Mark is regarded
According to Mark holds a literary regard score of 47 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.