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How long does it take to read What a Carve Up!?

Jonathan Coe

What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe takes about 9 hours 23 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 9 hours 23 minutes

A week or two of reading

First published 1994. 512 pages, about 140,800 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 39 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 9 hours 23 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 5 hours 52 minutes

The page count is the median across 25 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

A brilliant noir farce, a dystopian vision of Britain, a family history and the story of an obsession. Michael is a lonely, rather pathetic writer, obsessed by the film, 'What A Carve Up!' in which a mad kinfeman cuts his way through the inhabitants of a decrepit stately pile as the thunder rages. Inexplicably he is commissioned to write the family history of the Winshaws, an upper class Yorkshire clan whose members have a finger in every establishment pie, from arms dealing to art dealing, from politics to banking to the popular press and factory farming. During his researches Michael realizes that the Winshaws have cast a blight on his life, as they have on Britain. His confidence, his sexual and personal identity begin to reform. In a climax set in the Winshaw's family seat the novel turns into the film, 'What A Carve Up!' as a murderous maniac stalks the family and Michael discovers the significance of Shirley Eaton's lingere.

Subjects: Fiction, humorous, general, Families, Fiction, Biographers, Ehrenmord, Familie

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