Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Published 2015 · 320 pages · 60,000 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Coming-of-Age, LGBTQ+ Fiction, Romance
How hard is Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda to read?
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda scores 18 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. 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: 18 out of 100
- Casual teen voice peppered with pop culture references and internet slang. Entirely accessible vocabulary.
- Sentence structure: 18 out of 100
- Short, punchy first-person sentences that replicate the rhythm of a teenager's internal monologue. Email excerpts add textual variety.
- Abstraction: 15 out of 100
- Simon processes everything through concrete social situations. The novel stays grounded in specific scenes and sensory details.
- Information density: 18 out of 100
- Breezy pacing with room for Simon's digressions about music, food, and friend drama. Never information-heavy.
- Narrative indirection: 22 out of 100
- The mystery of Blue's identity creates mild narrative suspense. Otherwise linear and transparent in Simon's first-person voice.
- Symbolic density: 18 out of 100
- The emails symbolize safe space for authentic identity. The Ferris wheel ending is a clear romantic gesture. Symbols are straightforward.
- Ironic distance: 20 out of 100
- Simon is self-deprecatingly funny but emotionally sincere. Albertalli uses humor to defuse tension without creating distance from feelings.
- Resolution withholding: 18 out of 100
- Blue's identity is revealed satisfyingly. Simon comes out. The romance resolves warmly. No loose ends.
- Structural complexity: 15 out of 100
- Linear first-person narrative alternating between real-life scenes and email exchanges. Simple, effective structure.
How Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is regarded
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda holds a literary regard score of 50 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.