We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(6) Tree Line
Realistically, it's totally possible that Lucky Jim creeps into the snow line (maybe at a 7 rating). Yeah, it's full of tons of great humor and get-able jokes. But at the same time, Amis sometimes goes off on these long paragraphs that can be easy to get lost in. He might be mocking British universities for being pretentious, but he himself has a tendency to overcomplicate his descriptions at times.
Just check out this passage:
A minute passed; he went on thumping while the taxi-driver slowly joined him, his very presence a self-righteously pessimistic comment. Dixon laid down for himself the general lines of an appropriate face, involving free and unusual use of the lips and tongue, and endorsed by manual gestures. (14.2)
If you find passages like that tough to follow, you're not alone. Amis can't help himself—he's British. And some of the idioms and references are lost on us Yankees. But luckily, Amis does rein himself in enough to keep the action moving along most of the time. You'll need to pay close attention, though.