How Long Does It Take to Read The Metamorphosis?
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915) runs about 22,000 words — roughly 55 pages in a standard paperback. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that is 1 hour and 32 minutes of reading. The tables below break it down by pace and by daily reading sessions, and you can calculate reading time for any book or test how well you know this one with the Metamorphosis book quiz.
Reading time by speed
| Reading pace | Time to finish The Metamorphosis |
|---|---|
| Slow (150 wpm) | 2 hours and 27 minutes |
| Average (238 wpm) | 1 hour and 32 minutes |
| Fast (350 wpm) | 1 hour and 3 minutes |
| Speed reader (450 wpm) | 49 minutes |
Reading in daily sessions
Prefer a nightly page goal? Here is how long the book lasts as a daily habit:
| Session length | Days to finish |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes per day | 7 days |
| 30 minutes per day | 4 days |
| 60 minutes per day | 2 days |
Where the numbers come from
The average adult reads 238 words per minute for non-fiction and around 238–300 wpm for easy fiction, according to Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 reading-rate studies — the number most reading-time tools use. The Metamorphosis’s word count (22,000) is an estimate for a standard text or translation; translations and editions vary, so treat both word and page counts as planning figures. For a custom edition or your own pace, the reading time calculator does the math for any word count.
Is The Metamorphosis hard to read?
Easy-to-moderate — short and lucid; the dream logic is unsettling rather than difficult.
Traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes to find himself transformed into a monstrous vermin — and the true horror is how quickly everyone else adapts. Work, family and duty dissected with a perfectly straight face: the most famous short novel of the twentieth century. Think you know it already? Take the Metamorphosis book quiz — eight questions, two minutes — or see how you do on the full mixed-classics book quiz.
A realistic pace plan for The Metamorphosis
Numbers help, but habits finish books. At 30 minutes a day — one coffee break or one commute — you are done in 4 days. Prefer the one-sitting test? You would need about 1 hour and 32 minutes in a single stretch, which most readers split over a weekend. And if you read 6 pages a night, the book lasts roughly 10 nights — the point is that a 55-page classic shrinks fast once the session is fixed. Readers who finish long books almost never “find time”; they pick the session size first and let the days accumulate.
Your pace may vary from chapter to chapter, especially when the language or ideas are unfamiliar. Leave a little room in your plan for slower passages. When you turn the last page, the Metamorphosis book quiz is a quick way to see how much stayed with you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read The Metamorphosis?
At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, The Metamorphosis takes about 1 hour and 32 minutes. At a fast 350 wpm it is 1 hour and 3 minutes; a slow, careful 150 wpm reader needs about 2 hours and 27 minutes.
How many pages is The Metamorphosis?
About 55 pages in a standard paperback edition — editions vary, so treat it as a close estimate.
How many words is The Metamorphosis?
Approximately 22,000 words, the figure used for every calculation on this page.
Is The Metamorphosis hard to read?
Easy-to-moderate — short and lucid; the dream logic is unsettling rather than difficult.
Is The Metamorphosis worth the time?
Traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes to find himself transformed into a monstrous vermin — and the true horror is how quickly everyone else adapts. If that sounds like your kind of book, 1 hour and 32 minutes is a reasonable price for one of the most-read titles in its genre — and the quiz linked above tells you whether an earlier read already stuck.
What reading level is The Metamorphosis?
About Grades 10-12, typically read by ages 15+. The suggested age is a guide; reading experience varies from person to person.
How long other classics take
Counting sessions instead of hours? The Metamorphosis has 3 parts, about 7,333 words each. Every title on the shelf is timed the same way in how long to read: 133 classics, timed — from Animal Farm’s single afternoon to War and Peace’s two-week campaign. For scale, The Metamorphosis is the 131st longest of the 133 classics timed here — shorter than Romeo and Juliet but longer than Macbeth.
Planning a whole-author project? The Franz Kafka books in order guide lists the full shelf in reading order.