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How long does it take to read Candide?

Voltaire

Candide by Voltaire takes about 2 hours 47 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 2 hours 47 minutes

An evening's read

First published 1746. 152 pages, about 41,800 words.

6 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 4 hours 39 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 2 hours 47 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 1 hour 45 minutes

The page count is the median across 1,079 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man, whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world. And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism.

Content warnings (AI-checked, may be incomplete)
  • violence
  • sexual content
  • war

How these are chosen

Subjects: Conduct of life, Literatura francesa, Satire, Fiction, Civilization, Moral conditions

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