READING TIME · MARY SHELLEY · 1818
How long does it take to read Frankenstein?
At an average reading speed, about 4 hours 50 minutes. Frankenstein is 75,064 words long, in four letters from Robert Walton followed by 24 chapters.
- WORDS
- 75,064
- PARTS
- 28
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 10 (Flesch–Kincaid)
Reading time at different speeds
| Reader | Speed | Whole book |
|---|---|---|
| Unhurried | 200 words a minute | 6 h 15 min |
| Average adult reader | 260 words a minute | 4 h 50 min |
| Quick reader | 320 words a minute | 3 h 55 min |
To finish it at a steady pace:
- 20 minutes a day: about 15 days
- 30 minutes a day: about 10 days
- 60 minutes a day: about 5 days
How many chapters are in Frankenstein?
Frankenstein has 24 chapters, after four opening letters: 28 parts in all. The longest is Chapter 24 (8,244 words, 32 min); the shortest is Letter 3 (300 words, 1 min). The average part takes 10 min. Parlor opens the revised 1831 text, as most classes do. The 1818 text numbers its chapters differently.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Part | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter 1 | 1,202 | 5 min | Check it → |
| Letter 2 | 1,311 | 5 min | Check it → |
| Letter 3 | 300 | 1 min | Check it → |
| Letter 4 | 2,733 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 1 | 1,774 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 2,207 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 2,683 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 2,536 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 2,357 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 2,725 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 3,561 | 14 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 3,092 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 2,219 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10 | 2,358 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11 | 2,905 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 12 | 2,069 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 13 | 2,036 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 14 | 1,852 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 15 | 3,040 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 16 | 3,215 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 17 | 1,918 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 18 | 2,846 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 19 | 2,610 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 20 | 3,522 | 14 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 21 | 3,738 | 14 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 22 | 3,416 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 23 | 2,595 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 24 | 8,244 | 32 min | Check it → |
Studying it for class? The Frankenstein study guide has discussion questions for each part, passages to look at and a worked close reading.
READING IT FOR CLASS?
Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.
Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read Frankenstein one part at a time, then make sure you understood it.
- Read a part. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
- Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the part hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
- Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the parts you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.
Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.
How these numbers were worked out
Words are counted in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Project Gutenberg eBook #84, the edition Parlor opens, divided into parts exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.
Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.
The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (22.3 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- The Lost World 4 h 50 min
- Up from Slavery 4 h 45 min
- Northanger Abbey 4 h 55 min
- Silas Marner 4 h 35 min