The Humans by Matt Haig
Published 2014 · 80,850 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Science Fiction, Satire & Humor, Literary Fiction
How hard is The Humans to read?
The Humans scores 28 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: 24 out of 100
- Haig writes in plain, contemporary English with a few mathematical and philosophical terms. The prose is closer to Beach Read than The Great Gatsby.
- Sentence structure: 22 out of 100
- Sentences are short and direct, with chatty asides and lists. Chapters are brief and easy to follow.
- Abstraction: 42 out of 100
- Big questions about love, mortality and the meaning of life are anchored in concrete scenes like meals, a dog walk and a teenager's bedroom. The ideas are stated simply.
- Information density: 28 out of 100
- The plot is light and moves at a comfortable pace, with a steady supply of jokes about human customs. Few threads need tracking.
- Narrative indirection: 28 out of 100
- The alien narrator states what he sees and feels outright, and the humor depends on his literal misreadings. The reader seldom has to infer beyond the obvious.
- Symbolic density: 32 out of 100
- Peanut butter, Dickinson's poems and the Riemann proof carry meaning, but they are signposted and few. It sits near Beach Read and well below The Remains of the Day.
- Ironic distance: 35 out of 100
- The outsider's deadpan observations create comic irony about human habits, though the book is ultimately sincere. The irony shades into earnest feeling.
- Resolution withholding: 22 out of 100
- The mission and family plots reach a clear emotional resolution. Only a few questions about the aftermath stay open.
- Structural complexity: 20 out of 100
- A linear first-person account with short chapters and interspersed advice lists. There are no timeline games or multiple narrators.
How The Humans is regarded
The Humans holds a literary regard score of 30 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.