The Adventures of Roderick Random

At a glance

1748 novel by Tobias Smollett.

Author

T. Smollett1721–1771

First published

1748

Original language

English

Genre

Adventure

Readers

Adult

Length

Very long120,000 to 200,000 words

How long it takes to read

About 12 h 46 min at 250 words a minute, or 20 h 35 min as an audiobook.

More by T. Smollett

• The Adventures of Ferdinand Count FathomT. Smollett161,779 words
• The Expedition of Humphry ClinkerT. Smollett149,130 words

All books by T. Smollett

Compared with other books

The books closest in length, and a few well-known ones for scale.

1. 1War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy587,287Compare
2. 2The Red and the BlackStendhal193,611Compare
3. 3The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, GentlemanLaurence Sterne193,575Compare
4. 4The Adventures of Roderick RandomT. Smollett191,500
5. 5Tower of DawnSarah J. Maas191,282Compare
6. 6The Blade ItselfJoe Abercrombie191,200Compare
7. 7The Fellowship of the RingJ. R. R. Tolkien177,227Compare
8. 8Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen121,970Compare
9. 9Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneJ. K. Rowling76,944Compare
10. 10The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald47,094Compare

Counted from the text

Automated estimates from the selected Project Gutenberg text; it may include a preface or notes.

Words in the text

191,500

Chapters

69about 2,775 words each

Dialogue

19%of the words are inside quotation marks

Vocabulary

454 different words in every 1,000Distinct words in the sampled text; this does not measure writing quality.

Where the numbers come from

The word count comes from the sources below.

• gutenberg.orgword count
• openlibrary.orgcover and record
• wikidata.orgdescription and author

The word count is Musael’s own count of the Project Gutenberg text, which can include a preface or notes.

Checked on 2026-10-27. Page counts change from edition to edition. Cover from Open Library; the edition shown may differ.

Questions