How long does it take to read Ducks?
Two Years in the Oil Sands
Ducks by Kate Beaton takes about 8 hours to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours
A week or two of reading
First published 2022. 436 pages, about 119,900 words.
16 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 13 hours 19 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours |
The page count is the median across 6 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Arriving in Fort McMurray, Katie finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world's largest oil companies. As one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. It does not hit home until she moves to a spartan, isolated worksite for higher pay. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. For young Katie, her wounds may never heal. Beaton's natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
Subjects: Comic books, strips, Petroleum industry and trade, Petroleum workers, Oil sands, Psychic trauma, Sexual harassment
