How long is it?
467 pages in the Harcourt, Brace and Company 1941 hardcover edition.
Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Literary fiction
In This Our Life
Highly regardedPulitzer Prize for Novel (pre-1948), 1942Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 46 / 100Moderate
- Length
- 467 pagesHarcourt, Brace and Company · 1941
- Reading time
- 9 h 15 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Measured
- Emotional intensity
- 4 / 5
About 9 h 15 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 19 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
In Queenborough, Virginia, in the late 1930s, Asa Timberlake works for the tobacco company that absorbed his family's business, watching their old standing erode. At home, his wife Lavinia uses her ill health to hold his attention, while their daughters Roy and Stanley pursue tangled romantic lives under wealthy Uncle William's indulgent eye. Visits to Kate Oliver's farm offer Asa relief from the demands of money and family loyalty.
Reader notes
Bleak and analytical, the literary family novel stays close to Asa's thoughts, letting domestic conversations expose manipulation and cruelty beneath respectable manners. Its sexual relationships are largely implicit, and the family’s emotional abuse matters more than romantic fulfillment.
How it reads
- Tone
- Dark · Melancholic · Reflective
- Structure
- Linear
- Driven by
- Character · Ideas · Relationships
- Point of view
- Third person, omniscient
- Setting
- Queenborough, Virginia (fictional)
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 3 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 3 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Class
- Family
- Freedom
- Marriage
- Morality
Content notes
- Violence
- Mild
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- Mild
- Abuse
- Strong
- Self-harm or suicide
- Mild
Standing and awards
Highly regarded
- Pulitzer Prize for Novel (pre-1948), 1942
Questions readers ask
Which edition is shown here?
Harcourt, Brace and Company · 1941 · Hardcover.
How long does it take to read In This Our Life?
About 9 hours 15 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 467-page Harcourt, Brace and Company edition. Dense books can take longer.
If you liked this
Edition and details
- Publisher
- Harcourt, Brace and Company
- Publication year
- 1941
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 467
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 1941
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Literary fiction · Psychological fiction · Social novel
- Editions
- 5
- Languages
- 2 (English, Unspecified)
The catalog does not yet include a matching edition. Details may differ between editions.