---
title: "How long to read The Great Gatsby? about 3 hours 18 minutes"
description: "The Great Gatsby takes about 3 hours 18 minutes — 47,094 words. What that assumes, how it breaks down, and how long at a realistic pace."
url: https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-great-gatsby/
site: "At One Place"
---

# How long does it take to read The Great Gatsby?

**How long to read The Great Gatsby: about 3 hours 18 minutes**

47,094 words

The Great Gatsby is 47,094 words, which is barely a novel — under three and a half hours, less time than the extended Fellowship of the Ring. It is the shortest book on most school reading lists and one of the shortest works commonly called a Great American Novel. Fitzgerald sold fewer than 25,000 copies in his lifetime and died believing it a failure. At this length it can be read in one sitting, which is close to how it is designed to work.

## The numbers

- **Total:** 3 hours 18 minutes
- **In hours:** 3.3 hours
- **Non-stop:** 0.1 days without sleeping
- **Covers:** 47,094 words
- **At a realistic pace:** one sitting
- **That works out as:** about 1 days

## What this assumes

47,094 words at 238 words per minute.

## Other books

| What | How long |
| --- | --- |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | about 5 hours 23 minutes |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | about 18 hours |
| The Hobbit | about 6 hours 39 minutes |
| The Bible | about 55 hours |
| War and Peace | about 40 hours |
| Infinite Jest | about 40 hours |
| Moby-Dick | about 15 hours |
| Ulysses | about 19 hours |
| Dune | about 13 hours |
| Pride and Prejudice | about 8 hours 33 minutes |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | about 6 hours 14 minutes |
| Animal Farm | about 2 hours 6 minutes |
| It | about 31 hours |
| The complete works of Shakespeare | about 59 hours |
| The complete Sherlock Holmes | about 72 hours as an audiobook |
| All of English Wikipedia | about 41 years |

## Common questions

### How long does it take to read The Great Gatsby?

about 3 hours 18 minutes — 47,094 words.

### What does that assume?

47,094 words at 238 words per minute.

### How long at a realistic pace?

one sitting — about 1 days.

## Related pages

- [How long to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/harry-potter-philosophers-stone/)
- [How long to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/harry-potter-order-of-the-phoenix/)
- [How long to read The Hobbit?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-hobbit/)
- [How long to read the Bible?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-bible/)
- [How long to read War and Peace?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/war-and-peace/)
- [How long to read Infinite Jest?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/infinite-jest/)
- [How long to read Moby-Dick?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/moby-dick/)
- [How long to read Ulysses?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/ulysses/)
- [How long to read the Harry Potter series?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/harry-potter-series/)
- [How long to watch Friends?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/friends/)
- [How long to watch One Piece?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/one-piece/)
- [How long to watch The Simpsons?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-simpsons/)
- [How long to watch The Office (US)?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-office-us/)
- [How long to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/marvel-cinematic-universe/)

## Sources

- Calculated on this page — At One Place (/about/)