How long does it take to read Great Expectations?
Charles Dickens
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, Great Expectations takes 12 hours 17 minutes to read. As an audiobook, expect about 20 hours at 1x.
Great Expectations is one of Dickens's shorter novels, though still a long book. Pip tells it in three stages of about twenty chapters each, and its 59 chapters are short: about 12 minutes apiece, which makes it easy to read a little at a time.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the book:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: counted text. We used the Project Gutenberg text (#1400), from Chapter I to the end, with the illustration markers removed.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked November 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log it in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Great Expectations?
About 12 hours at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 15 hours at 200 and 10 hours at 300.
How many words are in Great Expectations?
184,333 words.
How many pages a day to finish Great Expectations in a month?
About 23 pages a day, or 25m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 670 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
How many chapters does Great Expectations have?
59, in three stages: chapters 1 to 19, 20 to 39 and 40 to 59. They average about 3,100 words, or roughly 12 minutes of reading each.
Is Great Expectations longer than Jane Eyre?
They're almost exactly the same length: 184,333 words against 184,443, a difference of 110 words. Both take about 12 hours 18 minutes at an average pace.