City of gold vs Gravity's Rainbow: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: World War II, World War, Fiction
City of gold
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"The pace of the story is compulsive . . . it is a real pleasure to be swallowed up in Deighton's description of wartime Cairo."—Daily TelegraphJanuary 1942. Rommel, the fabled "Desert Fox," has pushed back the British…
Gravity's Rainbow
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Winner of the National Book Award"The most profound and accomplished American novel since the end of World War II." —The New Republic“A screaming comes across the sky. . .” A few months after the Germans’ secret V-2…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Gravity's Rainbow highest: Gravity's Rainbow 4.0 · City of gold 3.7.
- City of gold is the quickest read — about 10 hours vs 21 for Gravity's Rainbow.
- Gravity's Rainbow has the widest readership — 49955 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| City of gold | Gravity's Rainbow | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.6 (1221) | 4.0 (49955) |
| Hardcover | 3.0 (1) | 3.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (175) |
Reception
| City of gold | Gravity's Rainbow | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 1221 | 49955 |
| Editions | 10 | 44 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 575 | 137 |
| Reading it now | 149 | 2 |
| Written reviews | 96 | 3 |
| Wikipedia attention | 335 | 31785 |
| Pages | 576 | 1160 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: City of gold or Gravity's Rainbow?
Gravity's Rainbow has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Gravity's Rainbow 4.0/5, City of gold 3.7/5).
Which is shorter to read: City of gold or Gravity's Rainbow?
City of gold is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: City of gold (576 pages, ≈ 10 h 40 m); Gravity's Rainbow (1160 pages, ≈ 21 h 29 m).
Which is harder to read: City of gold or Gravity's Rainbow?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — City of gold: Moderate; Gravity's Rainbow: Challenging.