How long does it take to read The Octopus, a Story of California?
The Octopus, a Story of California by Frank Norris takes about 8 hours 38 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 38 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1901. 471 pages, about 129,525 words.
18 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 14 hours 24 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 38 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 24 minutes |
The page count is the median across 180 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Nominally, a fictional story of the disputes between a railroad and ranchers in California, it was actually a stern critique of the Central Pacific Railroad based on the famous "Mussel Slough Tragedy" where a shootout occurred between railroad men and citizens of a small California town. The Octopus was originally planned to be part one of a three part trilogy, The Epic of the Wheat. Part two, The Pit, was published later but Norris died before completing the third novel.
Subjects: Fiction, Wheat farmers, Farmers, Railroads, Wheat, Farm life
