How long does it take to read Germinal?
Germinal by Émile Zola takes about 9 hours 8 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
Book 13 of Les Rougon-Macquart
Previous: La Joie de vivre Next: L'Œuvre
About 9 hours 8 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1885. 498 pages, about 136,950 words.
19 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 15 hours 13 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 9 hours 8 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 42 minutes |
The page count is the median across 147 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The thirteenth novel in Emile Zola's great Rougon-Macquart sequence, Germinal expresses outrage at the exploitation of the many by the few, but also shows humanity's capacity for compassion and hope.Etienne Lantier, an unemployed railway worker, is a clever but uneducated young man with a dangerous temper. Forced to take a back-breaking job at Le Voreux mine when he cannot get other work, he discovers that his fellow miners are ill, hungry, and in debt, unable to feed and clothe their families. When conditions in the mining community deteriorate even further, Lantier finds himself leading a strike that could mean starvation or salvation for all.
Subjects: Fiction, Strikes and lockouts, Coal miners, Labor disputes, Coal mines and mining, Industrial relations
