How long does it take to read East of Eden?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck takes about 11 hours 15 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 11 hours 15 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1952. 614 pages, about 168,850 words.
23 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 18 hours 46 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 11 hours 15 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 7 hours 2 minutes |
The page count is the median across 104 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Steinbeck considered East of Eden to be his masterpiece. In his journal, Journal of a Novel (often read as a companion to the novel) he notes that “this is the book I have always wanted and have worked and prayed to be able to write Set primarily in the Salinas Valley in the early twentieth century, the novel traces three generations of two families – the Trasks and the Hamiltons – as they grapple with the ever-present forces of good and evil. From this plot emerged some of Steinbeck’s most fascinating characters – many of whom are modeled after people in his own life. Part allegory, part autobiography, and part epic, East of Eden was an ambitious project from the start – a gift to Steinbeck’s sons that was meant to teach them about identity, grief, and what it means to be human. Tinged with biblical echoes of the fall of Adam and Eve and the rivalry of Cain and Abel, this sprawling saga has captivated audiences everywhere for generations. It is through the popularization of East of Eden that the Salinas Valley was truly transformed into “the valley of the world”; a place where everyone is able to find a piece of themselves in the golden, rolling hills. ---
Content warnings (AI-checked, may be incomplete)
- violence
- sexual content
- suicide
- war
Subjects: migrant labor, historical fiction, domestic fiction, depravity, beneficence, love
