How long does it take to read The Book Thief?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak takes about 10 hours 16 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 10 hours 16 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1998. 560 pages, about 154,000 words.
21 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 17 hours 7 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 10 hours 16 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 6 hours 25 minutes |
The page count is the median across 109 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Book Thief is a historical novel set in Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who is placed with a foster couple, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, after her brother dies and her family is torn apart. At her brother's burial, Liesel takes her first book, though she cannot yet read. Hans teaches her letters and words, and her fascination with books grows, leading her to steal more. Through Liesel's eyes, the novel explores death, language, and love under a regime of fear.
This summary was written by AI and checked by a second AI model. How these are chosen.
Subjects: Books and reading, Fiction, Jews, History, Rescue, Storytelling
