I finished a book today that, from the beginning to the end, just took place over the course of one day (24 hours). It was really enjoyable, I think.
And that made me wonder, what books have you read thats time period is the shortest and longest…and what books are they?
The one I just finished that just followed events over one day was The Darkest Evening of the Year, by Dean Koontz. It, by Stephen King, is the only one that comes to mind, right now, as being the longest. If you count the beginning of the story at the time of Georgie chasing the boat to the end when the adults come out of the sewers, that’s about, what, 30 odd years?
I’m aware that The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, while spanning a long time in the fantasy world, only spans a few minutes in the real one…is that one the shortest anyone can think of (so far)? From beginning to end being just a few minutes? (okay, so it may be cheating–but that’s the kinds of things I’m also looking for in this thread–exceptions to the rule, circumstances where things might count or might not, and instances that might give away to debate just how much of a time period IS covered)
What’re the books you’ve read that covered the longest and shortest periods of time?
Well, 2001 starts off before the evolution of homo sapiens, and ends in the year 2001, so that’s a good long stretch. I believe Olaf Stapledon’s Last and First Men covers an even longer time period, but I never managed to finish the book, so I’m not sure where it cuts off.
Wow, that is a long stretch.
Not everyone has read 2001, though, that’s why I figured I’d throw in the “that you’ve read” part, hah. As a hope for people to avoid using this topic just try to find/name the longest/shortest period of time covered in any book. (not that I doubt you read it–I don’t…I’m just hoping people don’t start coming in with “Well, I’ve heard this book is only one minute long”)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which I read as a course requirement and understand it’s still required for several courses, literally covers a single day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, a fictional political prisoner (a WW2 Russian soldier accused of spying due to Stalinist paranoia) in the post World War II USSR.
James Michener wrote several novels that begin, literally, with the creation of the continents (he goes into length explaining how the topography formed over the past billion years), then picking up with the first inhabitants of the region thousands of years ago and proceeding to [what was at the time of its writing] the present. Examples include Hawaii, Centennial, Texas, and Chesapeake. Edward Rutherford borrowed the conceipt for SARUM (about the history of a fictional town in what’s now Salisbury from prehistory to the present) and some of his other novels (though I’ve only read SARUM).
Arthur Hailey’s novel Airport starts in the early evening and ends just after midnight… six or seven hours, I’m thinking. And that’s “real” time, no popping into fantasy worlds necessary.
I just re-read A Wrinkle in Time, and the meat of the story manages to take place in -5 minutes of real time - Mrs Who says that she made a wrinkle in time as well as in space, so they will return to Earth five minutes before they left it. Of course, their adventures within that wrinkle in time take about a day from the children’s perspectives, but if magical closets count than so do tesseracts However, the book also includes an introduction that takes place the night before and some incidents from earlier in the day of the big adventure, spoiling its claim to the record.
Longest I’ve read for a single story arc - 2001 is really two related stories with a huge gap in between them, IMO - is Kristin Lavransdatter, which covers the title character’s life from childhood until death, which off the top of my head must be at least 50 years.
Actually no, if you’re counting real world time, then you have to start with the Pevensies arriving at the professor’s house as the start of LWW - and there’s a postscript with them discussing their adventures with him afterward. It’s not made clear just what the total timespan is, but I’d put it at two weeks, not any less.
The main action of *The Taking of Pelham One Two Three * takes place within an hour, which is the deadline for the ransom. It’s a long time since I’ve read it, so I can’t remember how much takes place outside this frame, if at all. A few minutes here and there, maybe.
A short story, not a book, but I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is hinted at taking place over months (maybe a couple years) for the “main” part of the story, but the very end, the part with the name drop seems to imply that he’s been like that for a good long time, possibly centuries.
I haven’t read it, but I understand James Michener’s Chesapeake opens with a discussion of the geological and fossil history of the region before he launches into the main story, millions of years. As for stories that actually use all the time discussed, consider Orlando, A Biography by Virginia Woolf (350 years, but it skips a lot of them) and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (which uses its entire allotment).
I know that short stories are a cheat for the “shortest time” part, but Richard Brautigan’s “The Scarlatti Tilt” covers less than a minute.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency goes from just before the beginning of life on earth to (roughly) the present day. Not, admittedly, in that order. That would be about 3 billion years or so.
There’s also an Asimov short story that begins in the present day (well, 1950’s or whatever) and ends after the heat death of the universe (I know we’ve discussed it here before - “The last question” I think it’s called?)
Ivan Denisovitch was going to be my pick for “shortest”. Anyone know or remember what season it was meant to be set in? 'Cos if it was winter that would only be about 5 hours, dawn to dusk…
For single, full-length novels, the shortest is probably Ice Station by Matthew Reilly, which covers about 18 hours. The longest is Belgarath the Sorcerer, which covers about 7,000 years, according to Wikipedia.
Tao Zero by Poul Anderson starts on a spaceship in the relatively near future and ends some time after the Universe has contracted and undergone another ‘Big Bang’ event!
I can’t think of a shorter timespan in a book I’ve read, so, like a couple of previous posters, my answer’s probably* A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch* as well, although I probably enjoyed Ice Station more!
The short story Incident at owl Creek Bridge takes place in the time it takes a body to drop from the bridge to the end of the rope. He’s not bungee jumping, either.
In Nicholson Baker’s novel The Mezzanine, the “action” is the duration of an escalator ride – probably less than a minute and 130-odd pages long. (Yes, it’s an internal monologue, and I found it fascinating. His follow-up, Room Temperature, follows the same pattern.)
Joyce’s Ulysses is 650 pages or so, and the action takes place in slightly under 24 hours.
Technically, tLtWtW covers a few days, since Lucy goes into Narnia on one day, and then Edmund goes in the next, and then they all forget about it for a few days, before they all end up inside.
(okay, so it may be cheating–but that’s the kinds of things I’m also looking for in this thread–exceptions to the rule, circumstances where things might count or might not, and instances that might give away to debate just how much of a time period IS covered)