Wheat That Springeth Green by J.F. Powers

Published 1988 · 356 pages · 89,000 words · about 6 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction

How hard is Wheat That Springeth Green to read?

Wheat That Springeth Green scores 47 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. 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: 42 out of 100
Catholic and Midwestern vocabulary.
Sentence structure: 45 out of 100
Clear, wry sentences.
Abstraction: 50 out of 100
Faith, vocation, and ordinary life.
Information density: 45 out of 100
Dense with parish life.
Narrative indirection: 45 out of 100
Comic distance from protagonist.
Symbolic density: 50 out of 100
Priesthood, ordinariness carry weight.
Ironic distance: 55 out of 100
Powers maintains comic distance.
Resolution withholding: 45 out of 100
Life continues in faith.
Structural complexity: 40 out of 100
Linear with flashbacks.

How Wheat That Springeth Green is regarded

Wheat That Springeth Green holds a literary regard score of 57 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

J.F. Powers