How long does it take to read Bound?
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli takes about 3 hours 28 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 28 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2004. 189 pages, about 51,975 words. Written for children.
7 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 5 hours 47 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 28 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 10 minutes |
The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
YOUNG XING XING IS BOUND. Bound to her father's second wife and daughter after Xing Xing's father has passed away. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Dubbed "Lazy One" by her stepmother, Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful but compulsory tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content, for now, to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, to tend to the mysterious but beautiful carp in her garden, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society. But all of this is about to change as the time for the village's annual festival draws near, and Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future. In this searing story, Donna Jo Napoli, acclaimed author of "Beast and Breath," delves into the roots of the Cinderella myth and unearths a tale as powerful as it is familiar.
Subjects: Fiction, Juvenile fiction, History, Footbinding, Sex role, Stepmothers
