How long does it take to read The Descendants?
Kaui Hart Hemmings
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings takes about 5 hours 27 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 27 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1998. 297 pages, about 81,675 words.
11 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 5 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 27 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 24 minutes |
The page count is the median across 17 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Narrated in a fearless voice full of bold hilarity and set against the lush, panoramic backdrop of Hawaii, The Descendants is a stunning debut novel about an unconventional family forced to come together and re-create its own legacy...A descendant of one of Hawaii's largest landowners, Matthew King finds his luck has changed. His two daughters - Scottie, a feisty ten-year-old, and Alex, a teenage recovering drug addict - are out of control; his thrill-seeking, high-maintenance wife, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident and will soon be taken off life support. Suddenly the King family must come to terms with this tragedy - and with the shameful sense of freedom that comes with it.As Matt gathers Joanie's friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation is made worse by the discovery that one person hasn't been told - the man with whom Joanie has been having an affair. Forced to examine what he owes not only to the living but also to the dead, Matt takes to the road with his daughters to find his wife's lover on a memorable journey of painful revelations and unforeseen humour.
Subjects: Death, Families of royal descent, Family, Fiction, Mothers, Parent and child
