READING TIME · GUSTAVE FLAUBERT · 1857
How long does it take to read Madame Bovary?
At an average reading speed, about 7 hours 25 minutes. Madame Bovary is 115,550 words long, in 35 chapters in three parts.
- WORDS
- 115,550
- CHAPTERS
- 35
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 7 (Flesch–Kincaid)
Reading time at different speeds
| Reader | Speed | Whole book |
|---|---|---|
| Unhurried | 200 words a minute | 9 h 40 min |
| Average adult reader | 260 words a minute | 7 h 25 min |
| Quick reader | 320 words a minute | 6 h |
To finish it at a steady pace:
- 20 minutes a day: about 23 days
- 30 minutes a day: about 15 days
- 60 minutes a day: about 8 days
How many chapters are in Madame Bovary?
Madame Bovary has 35 chapters in three parts. The numbering starts again in each part. The longest is Part 2, Chapter 8 (7,672 words, 30 min); the shortest is Part 3, Chapter 3 (689 words, 3 min). The average chapter takes 13 min. Parlor opens Eleanor Marx-Aveling’s English translation.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 3,473 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 2,977 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 2,072 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 1,952 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 1,194 | 5 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 1,794 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 2,208 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 3,481 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 4,050 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 3,464 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 2,248 | 9 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 3,884 | 15 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 1,372 | 5 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 3,037 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 4,170 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 2,913 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 7,672 | 30 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 3,327 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10 | 2,941 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11 | 4,301 | 17 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 12 | 4,596 | 18 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 13 | 3,309 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 14 | 3,673 | 14 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 15 | 2,917 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 4,801 | 18 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 3,221 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 689 | 3 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 986 | 4 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 5,511 | 21 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 5,547 | 21 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 4,321 | 17 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 5,737 | 22 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 2,644 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10 | 2,000 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11 | 3,068 | 12 min | Check it → |
READING IT FOR CLASS?
Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.
Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read Madame Bovary one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.
- Read a chapter. 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 chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
- Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters 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 Madame Bovary, Project Gutenberg eBook #2413, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters 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 (16.6 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 7 h 20 min
- Wuthering Heights 7 h 30 min
- Sense and Sensibility 7 h 40 min
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 7 h 5 min