Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis
Published 1929 · 347 pages · 134,338 words · about 9 hours at an average pace · Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
How hard is Dodsworth to read?
Dodsworth scores 46 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately 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: 42 out of 100
- Lewis writes in clear, intelligent American English of the 1920s. The vocabulary is accessible, with period flavor.
- Sentence structure: 45 out of 100
- Direct, readable prose that tracks Sam is awakening with sympathy. Lewis is sentences are workmanlike and efficient.
- Abstraction: 50 out of 100
- Grounded in the concrete details of European travel and American marriage. Abstract questions about identity emerge through Sam is experience.
- Information density: 50 out of 100
- The novel moves at a comfortable pace through European cities and social situations. Lewis gives you time with Sam is thoughts.
- Narrative indirection: 45 out of 100
- Lewis tells his story directly, following Sam is perspective. What Sam learns about himself and his marriage is clearly tracked.
- Symbolic density: 50 out of 100
- Europe and America, old world and new—Lewis works with cultural contrasts that carry symbolic weight.
- Ironic distance: 55 out of 100
- Lewis observes American pretensions with his characteristic irony. Fran is aspirations to culture are seen clearly.
- Resolution withholding: 40 out of 100
- The novel builds toward Sam is choice about his future. The ending provides clear resolution.
- Structural complexity: 40 out of 100
- A linear narrative following Sam through his travels and his marriage is crisis. The structure is conventional and effective.
How Dodsworth is regarded
Dodsworth holds a literary regard score of 66 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.