Everything Sad Is Untrue vs Smiling for strangers: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Refugees, Children's fiction, Fiction
Everything Sad Is Untrue
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At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned,…
Smiling for strangers
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During the war, fourteen-year-old Nina flees from her village in Yugoslavia, armed only with some letters and a photograph, to search for an old friend of her mother's in England
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Everything Sad Is Untrue highest: Everything Sad Is Untrue 4.4 · Smiling for strangers 3.5.
- Smiling for strangers is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 6 for Everything Sad Is Untrue.
- Everything Sad Is Untrue has the widest readership — 145 ratings behind its score.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| Everything Sad Is Untrue | Smiling for strangers | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.2 (31) |
| Hardcover | 4.5 (38) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (145) | — |
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Reception
| Everything Sad Is Untrue | Smiling for strangers | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 145 | 31 |
| Editions | 5 | 2 |
| Citations | — | 2 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 689 | — |
| Pages | 362 | 151 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Everything Sad Is Untrue or Smiling for strangers?
Everything Sad Is Untrue has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Everything Sad Is Untrue 4.4/5, Smiling for strangers 3.5/5).
Which is shorter to read: Everything Sad Is Untrue or Smiling for strangers?
Smiling for strangers is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Smiling for strangers (151 pages, ≈ 2 h 48 m); Everything Sad Is Untrue (362 pages, ≈ 6 h 42 m).
Which is harder to read: Everything Sad Is Untrue or Smiling for strangers?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Everything Sad Is Untrue: Light; Smiling for strangers: Light.