How many pages is The Trial?

About 231 pages, though editions of a book this old vary a great deal — which is why its reading time comes from the complete text instead: 84,066 words, about 5½ hrs of reading at an average pace.

Is The Trial worth reading?

We score it 6.1 out of 10 for the time it takes — worth it for some readers. Readers on Hardcover rate it 3.84 out of 5 from 955 ratings, which counts for 6.1; at about 5½ hrs at an average pace its length neither adds nor takes away.

How long is The Trial audiobook?

About 9½ hrs, estimated from the 84,000 words at a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute. Real editions vary by narrator, usually by well under an hour.

Find a copy Listen on Audible · ≈9½ hrs

The Trial

Name: The Trial
Author: Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

5½ hrsto read

6.1worth it

At your speed≈ 5½ hrs

Pages231

Audiobook≈ 9½ hrs

Times shown for 250 words a minute (average)

The complete text runs to 84,066 words, counted word for word. At an average 250 words a minute that is 5½ hrs — a weekend's reading.

Readers on Hardcover rate it 3.84 out of 5, from 955 ratings.

Worth-it score 6.1/10 — Worth it for some readers. Readers 6.1 (Hardcover's 3.84★ from 955 ratings) + length 0.0 = 6.1. How the score works →

How long does it take to read The Trial?

The complete text of The Trial runs to 84,066 words — about 231 pages in the edition we list. How long that takes depends on how fast you read:

Estimated reading time for The Trial at three reading speeds.
Your pace	Words per minute	Time to finish
Slow	175	8 hrs
Average	250	5½ hrs
Fast	400	3½ hrs

Counted word for word from the complete public-domain text on Project Gutenberg, so these times don't depend on any one edition's page count. Most adults read between 200 and 300 words a minute — set your own pace and every time on the site adjusts. Prefer to listen? At a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute the audiobook runs about 9½ hrs — an estimate from the word count, since narrators vary.

Common questions

How long does it take to read The Trial?: About 5½ hrs at an average reading speed of 250 words per minute. The complete text of The Trial runs to 84,066 words — so at a slower 175 wpm it is nearer 8 hrs, and at 400 wpm closer to 3½ hrs.
How many pages is The Trial?: About 231 pages, though editions of a book this old vary a great deal — which is why its reading time comes from the complete text instead: 84,066 words, about 5½ hrs of reading at an average pace.
Is The Trial worth reading?: We score it 6.1 out of 10 for the time it takes — worth it for some readers. Readers on Hardcover rate it 3.84 out of 5 from 955 ratings, which counts for 6.1; at about 5½ hrs at an average pace its length neither adds nor takes away.
How long is The Trial audiobook?: About 9½ hrs, estimated from the 84,000 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

"Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka's death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information.…

Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, The Trial has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers"--Back cover.

ClassicsLiterary Fiction