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How long does it take to read How to Save a Life?

Sara Zarr

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr takes about 6 hours 15 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 6 hours 15 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2011. 341 pages, about 93,775 words. Written for children.

13 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 10 hours 25 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 6 hours 15 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 54 minutes

The page count is the median across 6 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Jill MacSweeney just wishes everything could go back to normal. But ever since her dad died, she’s been isolating herself from her boyfriend, her best friends—everyone who wants to support her. And when her mom decides to adopt a baby, it feels like she’s somehow trying to replace a lost family member with a new one. Mandy Kalinowski understands what it’s like to grow up unwanted—to be raised by a mother who never intended to have a child. So when Mandy becomes pregnant, one thing she’s sure of is that she wants a better life for her baby. It’s harder to be sure of herself. Will she ever find someone to care for her, too? As their worlds change around them, Jill and Mandy must learn to both let go and hold on, and that nothing is as easy—or as difficult—as it seems.

Subjects: Fiction, Grief, Interpersonal relations, Adoption, Pregnancy, Mothers and daughters

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