How long does it take to read Istanbul?
Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk takes about 7 hours 24 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 7 hours 24 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2003. 404 pages, about 111,100 words.
15 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 12 hours 21 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 7 hours 24 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 38 minutes |
The page count is the median across 22 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share. With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters—both Turkish and foreign—who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.
Subjects: Description and travel, Biography, Turkish Authors, Homes and haunts, Civilization, Family
