The First Bad Man by Miranda July
Published 2015 · 288 pages · 79,200 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction, Satire & Humor
How hard is The First Bad Man to read?
The First Bad Man scores 39 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: 27 out of 100
- July writes in plain, conversational contemporary English through Cheryl's fussy first-person voice. Nothing demands a dictionary, closer to Beach Read than The Great Gatsby.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Sentences are short and direct, with occasional run-on confessional lists. The syntax stays accessible, like contemporary fiction such as Beach Read.
- Abstraction: 38 out of 100
- The story is built on concrete domestic scenes: wrestling matches, cleaning, fantasies about a boss. Its emotional ideas about need and loneliness stay tied to bodies and rooms.
- Information density: 32 out of 100
- Plot and incident move quickly, with little exposition or encyclopedic detail. Cheryl's odd rules and fantasies add texture but the pace is comfortable.
- Narrative indirection: 50 out of 100
- Cheryl narrates her own delusions with total sincerity, so readers must judge what is real, especially around the reborn baby. Still, events are stated plainly.
- Symbolic density: 42 out of 100
- The throat lump and the recurring baby carry meaning, but the book signals them openly. It is less layered than The Remains of the Day's restraint, closer to To Kill a Mockingbird.
- Ironic distance: 52 out of 100
- The comedy comes from the gap between Cheryl's earnest self-image and what readers see. July maintains tender satire without sneering, a middle distance like Flights' earnestness with extra comic edge.
- Resolution withholding: 35 out of 100
- The plot reaches an emotional resolution, though the nature of Cheryl's relationships and beliefs stays unsettled. It closes more than it leaves open.
- Structural complexity: 30 out of 100
- The narrative runs mostly linear in Cheryl's first person, with occasional interpolated fantasies and a shift in the later part. It is simple compared to Lolita's framed confession.
How The First Bad Man is regarded
The First Bad Man holds a literary regard score of 46 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.