How long does it take to read Humboldt's Gift?
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow takes about 8 hours 56 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 56 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1973. 487 pages, about 133,925 words.
18 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 14 hours 53 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 56 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 35 minutes |
The page count is the median across 38 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
For many years, the great poet Von Humboldt Fleisher and Charlie Citrine, a young man inflamed with a love for literature, were the best of friends. At the time of his death, however, Humboldt is a failure, and Charlie's life has reached a low point: his career is at a standstill, and he's enmeshed in an acrimonious divorce, infatuated with a highly unsuitable young woman, and involved with a neurotic mafioso. And then Humboldt acts from beyond the grave, bestowing upon Charlie an unexpected legacy that may just help him turn his life around.
Subjects: Poets, Legacies, Fiction, Authors, American Poets, Friendship
