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)
(7-8) Snow Line
The Adventures of Augie March takes some time to get used to. Augie is a verbose narrator who loves very long sentences and literary allusions. He's kind of a show-off, basically the original hipster. He's very well read in literature, history, and philosophy—he drops famous and obscure names like they're pronouns. You'll need the ol' Google to keep up with him.
None of Augie's narration has a singular plotline, but the beginning of the book is particularly challenging. Here he spends many more pages introducing people and describing circumstances than he does narrative something happening. Don't worry, though. The stories picks up soon enough. You just need to remember that his adventures aren't part of a larger plot or arc. They're more like stand-alone episodes, kind of like real life.