Novel Status - The Church of Hooks and Lures

I think I am "done" with revision three of this novel - if it's possible to say that about any novel. In a sense, I have been writing this novel for three and a half years. It didn't reach it's current form until January 2007, though. Some of the themes and characters have been present in my writing for awhile. One of my first attempts at one of the characters goes back to one of the first short stories I tried to write.

I'm happy with the form this version has taken. It's more complex, while at the same time more focussed, than any previous incarnation. From the first chapter, the reader knows what the major conflict for the protagonist is going to be. By the time we are 10% into the novel, all the characters (that matter) are in place and their problems defined and the plot is ready to go. The climax takes place at about 85-87% of the way in, after which it collapses to a wrap up that is satisfyingly symmetrical with the beginning.

Here's a log line:

Whit is a seventeen-year-old fatherless white boy caught in a struggle with his controlling, bigoted grandfather. It is 1970, and the public schools in South Carolina are finally being integrated. Whit must choose: attend the white-flight private school, or the racially integrated public school.

 Of course, there is more left out of that blurb than is included, but that is the purpose of a log line. How about some meaningless statistics:

• Words: 110514


• Characters: 481877


• Paragraphs: 2657


• Sentences: 8594


• Sentences per paragraph: 3.2


• Unique Words: over 7100


• Words per Sentence: 12.8


• Characters per Word: 4.1


• Passive Sentences: 0


• Flesch Reading Ease: 84.9


• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.5

I'm a little worried about that grade level - it makes it look like a kid's book. It's not, believe me. The vocabulary helps make up for it, though - over 7100 unique words.

I have an agent pitch on August 18th - the first time I have ever looked for an agent for this novel, and the first time I have ever been to a pitch session. I'm thinking of it as good practice...