How long does it take to read The Centaur?
The Centaur by John Updike takes about 5 hours 28 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 28 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1962. 298 pages, about 81,950 words.
11 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 6 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 28 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 25 minutes |
The page count is the median across 87 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
In a small Pennsylvania town in the late 1940s, schoolteacher George Caldwell yearns to find some meaning in his life. Alone with his teenage son for three days in a blizzard, Caldwell sees his son grow and change as he himself begins to lost touch with his life. Interwoven with the myth of Chiron, the noblest centaur, and his own relationship to Prometheus, The Centaur is one of John Updike's most brilliant and unusual novels.
Subjects: Fiction, National Book Award Winner, High school teachers, Centaurs, Fantasy, Chiron (Greek mythology)
