How long does it take to read Crime and Punishment?
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is 196,845 words long. At an average reading speed of 250 words per minute, it takes about 13 hours 7 minutes to read — one of the long ones.
Reading time at your speed
Reading speed varies more than most people expect — the gap between a slow and a fast reader is more than double. Find your row, or take the reading speed test to get your real number first.
| Reading speed | Words per minute | Time to finish |
|---|---|---|
| Slowcareful reading, or reading in a second language | 150 wpm | 21 hours 52 minutes |
| Below averageunhurried, easily distracted, or a dense text | 200 wpm | 16 hours 24 minutes |
| Averagewhat most adults read at | 250 wpm | 13 hours 7 minutes |
| Fasta confident, practised reader | 325 wpm | 10 hours 6 minutes |
| Very fastskimming, or very familiar material | 400 wpm | 8 hours 12 minutes |
These times assume you read English comfortably. Dense prose and period vocabulary slow most readers down, so if this is your first classic in English, plan for noticeably longer than the table says.
How long if you read a bit each day?
Almost nobody reads a novel in one sitting. Here is how Crime and Punishment breaks down at an average 250 wpm, depending on how much time you give it each day.
| Reading a day | Days to finish | That is |
|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 79 days | about 3 months |
| 15 minutes | 53 days | about 2 months |
| 30 minutes | 27 days | about 4 weeks |
| 60 minutes | 14 days | about 2 weeks |
How long is each chapter?
Crime and Punishment has 39 chapters, averaging 5,047 words — about 20m each. The longest is Chapter 13 at 30m; the shortest is Chapter 26 at 11m. Useful if you read a chapter a night.
Chapter times at 250 wpm.
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550 pages, level C1. Free on the 12-month plan, with a reading tracker, tap-to-translate vocabulary and a short quiz.
How Crime and Punishment compares
See reading times for every book →Common questions
How long does it take to read Crime and Punishment?
Crime and Punishment is 196,845 words long. At an average adult reading speed of 250 words per minute that is about 13 hours 7 minutes. A slower reader at 150 wpm needs around 21 hours 52 minutes; a fast reader at 400 wpm finishes in roughly 8 hours 12 minutes.
How many words is Crime and Punishment?
Crime and Punishment is 196,845 words across 39 chapters, which is one of the long ones. Of the 26 classics on readClassicly, 0 are longer and 25 are shorter.
Can I read Crime and Punishment in a day?
Realistically, no. Crime and Punishment is about 13 hours 7 minutes of reading at an average speed — more than most people can sustain in one sitting. At an hour a day it takes about 2 weeks.
Is Crime and Punishment hard to read?
At CEFR level C1, Crime and Punishment is a dense, challenging read best suited to advanced readers. You can read it free at readClassicly and tap any word you don't know to look it up, which keeps a harder classic from stalling you.
Reading a classic to learn English?
readClassicly has a free plan for English reading for beginners: graded classic stories with tap-to-define words, audio, and a short quiz after each one. Start at your level and build up to full books like this one. If you are just starting, begin with the short English stories for beginners.