The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones

Published 2022 · 216 pages · 54,000 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction

How hard is The Birdcatcher to read?

The Birdcatcher 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: 52 out of 100
Icelandic in translation.
Sentence structure: 52 out of 100
Sigurðardóttir's prose.
Abstraction: 55 out of 100
Identity, nature.
Information density: 52 out of 100
Iceland setting.
Narrative indirection: 52 out of 100
Third person.
Symbolic density: 55 out of 100
Birds, catching.
Ironic distance: 52 out of 100
Nature observation.
Resolution withholding: 52 out of 100
Story concludes.
Structural complexity: 48 out of 100
Linear narrative.

How The Birdcatcher is regarded

The Birdcatcher holds a literary regard score of 51 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

Gayl Jones