The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
Published 1968 · 435 pages · 149,829 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction
How hard is The Eighth Day to read?
The Eighth Day scores 55 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: 55 out of 100
- Wilder writes in elevated, philosophical prose that gives the novel its sense of moral weight. The vocabulary is accessible but carries the gravity of a writer asking ultimate questions.
- Sentence structure: 52 out of 100
- Sentences are often elaborate, building through the accumulation of family history and philosophical meditation. The prose has the amplitude of a writer attempting a great American novel.
- Abstraction: 60 out of 100
- The novel explores fate, providence, and how human potential unfolds across generations. These abstractions are Wilder's primary subjects, approached through two families across decades.
- Information density: 55 out of 100
- Early twentieth-century America, from mining towns to cities, and the various careers of the Ashley and Lansing children layer through the narrative. Wilder creates his portrait of America through accumulated generational detail.
- Narrative indirection: 55 out of 100
- The novel moves between family members across time, requiring readers to construct the pattern of destiny themselves. The murder mystery that begins the novel is less important than the lives it sets in motion.
- Symbolic density: 60 out of 100
- The title suggests both creation's continuation and human potential. The families become symbolic of American possibility, the next phase after Eden.
- Ironic distance: 52 out of 100
- Wilder writes without ironic distance from his theme of human goodness and purpose. The novel is sincere in its faith in human potential, which was countercultural by 1967.
- Resolution withholding: 55 out of 100
- The murder mystery resolves, but the novel's larger question—what is human destiny?—remains open. Wilder offers hope without guarantees.
- Structural complexity: 55 out of 100
- The novel spans decades and follows multiple family members through their various callings. The structure is demanding, requiring patience with its multigenerational scope.
How The Eighth Day is regarded
The Eighth Day 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.