How long does it take to read Darkness at Noon?
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler takes about 4 hours 39 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours 39 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1940. 254 pages, about 69,850 words.
10 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 7 hours 46 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours 39 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 55 minutes |
The page count is the median across 119 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Darkness at Noon is a novel by Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. It follows Rubashov, an aging Old Bolshevik who is arrested in the night, jailed, and charged with treason against the government he helped build. The story unfolds between 1938 and 1940, mostly inside an unnamed prison and in Rubashov's memories. It works as an allegory of the Soviet purges and show trials, avoiding the names of countries and leaders. Rubashov faces interrogation by two examiners while questioning his lifelong loyalty to the Party, and the book voices Koestler's disillusionment with Stalinism.
This summary was written by AI and checked by a second AI model. How these are chosen.
Subjects: Fiction, History, Political prisoners, Totalitarianism, Russia, Soviet union, fiction
