How long does it take to read The Balcony?
The Balcony by Jean Genet takes about 2 hours 48 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 2 hours 48 minutes
An evening's read
First published 1956. 153 pages, about 42,075 words.
6 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 4 hours 41 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 2 hours 48 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 1 hour 45 minutes |
The page count is the median across 79 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The setting of Jean Genet's celebrated play is a brothel that caters to refined sensibilities and peculiar tastes. Here men from all walks of life don the garb of their fantasies and act them out: a man from the gas company wears the robe and mitre of a bishop; another customer becomes a flagellant judge, and still another a victorious general, while a bank clerk defiles the Virgin mary. These costumed diversions take place while outside a revolution rages which has isolated the brothel from the rest of the rebel-controlled city. In a stunning series of macabre, climactic scenes, Genet presents his caustic view of man and society.
Subjects: Intellectual life, Drama, False personation, Revolutions, Brothels, Power (Philosophy)
