Pacific by Tom Drury
Published 2013 · 180 pages · 146,046 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Short Fiction
How hard is Pacific to read?
Pacific 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: 35 out of 100
- Drury writes in spare, plain prose appropriate to his Midwestern setting and characters. The vocabulary is everyday language, precisely deployed.
- Sentence structure: 40 out of 100
- Sentences are often short and declarative, with deadpan delivery that creates Drury's distinctive comic effect. The style is deceptively simple.
- Abstraction: 45 out of 100
- The novel stays close to its characters' modest concerns while suggesting larger questions about connection and meaning. Themes emerge from the texture of daily life.
- Information density: 40 out of 100
- The narrative moves at a leisurely pace, with Drury's attention to small moments and observations. The density is in the accumulation of detail rather than in plot.
- Narrative indirection: 50 out of 100
- Drury tells his story directly but with a deadpan quality that leaves space for interpretation. The humor often lies in what characters don't understand about themselves.
- Symbolic density: 45 out of 100
- The title suggests something larger than the Midwest it depicts. Drury finds meaning in ordinary objects and places without forcing symbolic readings.
- Ironic distance: 55 out of 100
- Drury maintains gentle, deadpan irony toward his characters' small dramas and self-deceptions. The humor is affectionate and understated.
- Resolution withholding: 50 out of 100
- The novel reaches quiet conclusions without dramatic resolution. Life continues in its small ways, which is part of Drury's point.
- Structural complexity: 40 out of 100
- The narrative follows its characters in a straightforward manner. The simplicity is deliberate, matching the modest scale of the story.
How Pacific is regarded
Pacific holds a literary regard score of 52 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.