How long does it take to read Invisible Man?
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison takes about 8 hours 48 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 48 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1952. 480 pages, about 132,000 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 40 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 48 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 30 minutes |
The page count is the median across 60 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Invisible Man is the story of a young black man from the South who does not fully understand racism in the world. Filled with hope about his future, he goes to college, but gets expelled for showing one of the white benefactors the real and seamy side of black existence. He moves to Harlem and becomes an orator for the Communist party, known as the Brotherhood. In his position, he is both threatened and praised, swept up in a world he does not fully understand. As he works for the organization, he encounters many people and situations that slowly force him to face the truth about racism and his own lack of identity. As racial tensions in Harlem continue to build, he gets caught up in a riot that drives him to a manhole. In the darkness and solitude of the manhole, he begins to understand himself - his invisibility and his identity. He decides to write his story down (the body of the novel) and when he is finished, he vows to enter the world again.
Subjects: Fiction, African American men, African Americans, Race relations, National Book Award Winner, Long Now Manual for Civilization
