Ordinary People by Diana Evans
Published 2019 · 336 pages · 84,000 words · about 9 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction
How hard is Ordinary People to read?
Ordinary People scores 51 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: 48 out of 100
- Evans writes in clear, contemporary prose that captures the speech patterns of her south London characters. The vocabulary is accessible and grounded in everyday life.
- Sentence structure: 50 out of 100
- Sentences are well-crafted and move at a comfortable pace. The prose serves the characters and their emotions without calling attention to itself.
- Abstraction: 55 out of 100
- The novel explores race, class, marriage, and parenthood through specific situations and relationships. Themes emerge from the texture of daily life.
- Information density: 50 out of 100
- The narrative moves between characters and time periods at a measured pace, giving space to domestic detail and emotional nuance. The density is relational.
- Narrative indirection: 52 out of 100
- Evans tells her story directly while leaving space for what characters don't say to each other. Understanding deepens through attention to gaps and silences.
- Symbolic density: 52 out of 100
- The south London setting, the characters' homes and jobs, carry meaning about class and aspiration. Evans finds significance in ordinary objects and spaces.
- Ironic distance: 50 out of 100
- Evans writes with empathy and gentle irony toward her characters' struggles and blind spots. The tone is compassionate and observant.
- Resolution withholding: 52 out of 100
- The novel reaches conclusions for its characters' immediate crises while acknowledging that life continues. Evans provides emotional resolution without tying up all threads.
- Structural complexity: 50 out of 100
- The narrative weaves between two couples and through time, with clear markers helping readers follow the shifts. The structure is accessible and well-managed.
How Ordinary People is regarded
Ordinary People holds a literary regard score of 61 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.