A Little Life
At your speed≈ 14½ hrs
Pages720
Audiobook≈ 24 hrs
720 pages works out to roughly 216,000 words. At an average 250 words a minute that is 14½ hrs — about a week of evenings.
Readers on Hardcover rate it 4.10 out of 5, from 1,131 ratings.
How long does it take to read A Little Life?
A Little Life is 720 pages, or roughly 216,000 words. How long that takes depends on how fast you read:
| Your pace | Words per minute | Time to finish |
|---|---|---|
| Slow | 175 | 20½ hrs |
| Average | 250 | 14½ hrs |
| Fast | 400 | 9 hrs |
Estimated at about 300 words per page. Most adults read between 200 and 300 words a minute — use the reading-speed control to set your own pace and every time on the site adjusts.
Every reading time on the site updates to your pace. Page counts are an estimate, so treat the hours as a good guide, not a stopwatch.
Common questions
- How long does it take to read A Little Life?
- About 14½ hrs at an average reading speed of 250 words per minute. A Little Life runs 720 pages, roughly 216,000 words — so at a slower 175 wpm it is nearer 20½ hrs, and at 400 wpm closer to 9 hrs.
- How many pages is A Little Life?
- 720 pages, which is about 216,000 words and 14½ hrs of reading. Editions vary, so we take the figure two of our three sources agree on.
- Is A Little Life worth reading?
- Readers on Hardcover rate it 4.10 out of 5, from 1,131 ratings. What we can tell you for certain is the cost: 720 pages and about 14½ hrs of your time, or 9 hrs if you read quickly. Whether that is worth it depends on the hours you have.
- How long is the A Little Life audiobook?
- About 24 hrs, estimated from the 216,000 words at a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute. Real editions vary by narrator, usually by well under an hour.
From the publisher
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect…
at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.
Readers also loved
480 pages · 4.17★ on Hardcover