How long is The Outcast?

The Outcast is 361 pages, or approximately 90,250 words. At an average reading pace, it takes about 10 hours to read.

Is The Outcast difficult to read?

The Outcast has a difficulty score of 5.2 out of 10, making it quite demanding. Key factors include vocabulary complexity (5.2/10), sentence structure (5.2/10), abstract concepts (5.5/10).

What genre is The Outcast?

The Outcast is categorized as Literary Fiction. It was published in 2008 by Sadie Jones.

Is The Outcast worth reading?

The Outcast by Sadie Jones is well-received with a literary regard score of 5.2/10. Visit ReadingRate for the full difficulty analysis and reading guide.

When was The Outcast published?

The Outcast was published in 2008 by Sadie Jones.

The Outcast by Sadie Jones

Name: The Outcast
Author: Sadie Jones

Published 2008 · 361 pages · 90,250 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction

How hard is The Outcast to read?

The Outcast 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: Jones writes in precise, period-appropriate prose that captures the vocabulary of postwar English suburban life. The language is accessible while conveying the specific textures of 1950s respectability and its repressions.
Sentence structure: 52 out of 100: Sentences are controlled and emotionally observant, building through accumulated detail of social ritual and internal pain. Jones's prose has the restraint of someone writing about violence that hides behind manners.
Abstraction: 55 out of 100: The novel explores trauma, conformity, and the cruelty of respectable society through Lewis's return from prison. His childhood grief, ignored and punished by the community, has curdled into behavior they judge without understanding.
Information density: 52 out of 100: 1940s and 1950s English suburban life, wartime and postwar transitions, and the textures of village society layer through the narrative. Jones builds her world through accumulated attention to houses, propriety, and the small cruelties of exclusion.
Narrative indirection: 52 out of 100: The story moves between Lewis's childhood and his return, revealing what shaped him. The reader must track the sources of his damage while understanding what the community refuses to see.
Symbolic density: 55 out of 100: The woods become symbolic of escape from suffocating respectability. The drowning becomes symbolic of what the community wanted to forget. Lewis's silence becomes symbolic of grief that has no acceptable outlet.
Ironic distance: 52 out of 100: Jones maintains complex ironic distance from suburban propriety, exposing its cruelty while understanding its logic. The novel is scathing about conformity while compassionate toward damaged individuals.
Resolution withholding: 52 out of 100: Lewis finds connection; the community's blindness is exposed. Jones offers redemption for individuals without suggesting the society that damaged them has learned anything.
Structural complexity: 50 out of 100: The novel alternates between past and present, revealing origins of present damage. The structure is accessible, using the dual timeline to build understanding and suspense.

How The Outcast is regarded

The Outcast 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.

About the author

Sadie Jones