How long is it?
208 pages in the Harper Perennial 2004 paperback edition.
Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Literary fiction
Laughing Boy
Highly regardedPulitzer Prize for Novel (pre-1948), 1930Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 36 / 100Moderate
- Length
- 208 pagesHarper Perennial · 2004
- Reading time
- 4 h 15 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Measured
- Emotional intensity
- 4 / 5
About 4 h 15 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 9 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Laughing Boy, a young Navajo silversmith and horseman in the American Southwest, falls in love with Slim Girl, whose government boarding-school education has estranged her from the traditions he grew up within. Despite his family's distrust, they marry and establish a home away from the traditional villages. Building a life together means negotiating their conflicting hopes and their ties to Navajo and white communities.
Reader notes
The literary love story is lyrical and attentive to landscape, songs, ceremonies and the work of making things. Much of its texture comes from horse racing and silverwork, while the couple's differences enter the ordinary business of marriage. Sexual intimacy is understated.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Lyrical · Descriptive
- Tone
- Romantic · Melancholic
- Structure
- Linear
- Driven by
- Character · Relationships
- Point of view
- Third person, omniscient
- Setting
- American Southwest
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 3 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 2 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Love
- Marriage
- Identity
- Belonging
- Colonialism and empire
Content notes
- Violence
- Mild
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- Mild
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Standing and awards
Highly regarded
- Pulitzer Prize for Novel (pre-1948), 1930
Questions readers ask
Which edition is shown here?
Harper Perennial · 2004 · Paperback. ISBN 9780618446728.
How long does it take to read Laughing Boy?
About 4 hours 15 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 208-page Harper Perennial edition. Dense books can take longer.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Harper Perennial
- Publication year
- 2004
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 208
- ISBN
- 9780618446728
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 1929
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Literary fiction · Coming of age · Social novel
- Editions
- 16
- Languages
- 2 (German, English)