How long does it take to read This Census-Taker?
This Census-Taker by China Miéville takes about 3 hours 40 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 40 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2016. 200 pages, about 55,000 words.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 6 hours 7 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 40 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 18 minutes |
The page count is the median across 7 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
"For readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, David Mitchell, and Karen Russell, This Census-Taker is a stunning, uncanny, and profoundly moving novella from multiple-award-winning and bestselling author China Mieville. In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries--and fails--to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape. When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over. But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether? Filled with beauty, terror, and strangeness, This Census-Taker is a poignant and riveting exploration of memory and identity"-- "After his mother goes missing, a boy is left alone in a remote house on a hilltop with his increasingly deranged father. When an odd man knocks on his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation are over. But will this stranger at last trigger the doom the boy has feared or will he somehow save the boy from the worst?"--
Subjects: Fiction, mystery & detective, general, Fiction, fantasy, contemporary, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Fantasy / General, FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary, Fathers and sons
