Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andrić

Published 1945 · 429 pages · 155,000 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

How hard is Bosnian Chronicle to read?

Bosnian Chronicle scores 52 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. 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: 50 out of 100
Ottoman and diplomatic vocabulary.
Sentence structure: 52 out of 100
Complex, European sentences.
Abstraction: 55 out of 100
Empire, diplomacy, and provincial life.
Information density: 55 out of 100
Dense with Ottoman Bosnia detail.
Narrative indirection: 50 out of 100
Chronicle form with ironic gaps.
Symbolic density: 50 out of 100
The consulate as symbol.
Ironic distance: 55 out of 100
Andrić maintains ironic historical distance.
Resolution withholding: 50 out of 100
History continues beyond novel.
Structural complexity: 50 out of 100
Chronicle structure with multiple perspectives.

How Bosnian Chronicle is regarded

Bosnian Chronicle holds a literary regard score of 58 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.

About the author

Ivo Andrić