The Possessed

At a glance

Author

Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881

Genre

Literary fiction

Readers

Adult

Length

Epic200,000 words or more

How long it takes to read

About 16 h 55 min at 250 words a minute, or 27 h 17 min as an audiobook.

More by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• The GamblerFyodor Dostoyevsky60,865 words
• Notes from the UndergroundFyodor Dostoyevsky44,193 words

All books by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Compared with other books

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

1. 1War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy587,287Compare
2. 2Wizard and GlassStephen King254,691Compare
3. 3BrisingrChristopher Paolini254,629Compare
4. 4The PossessedFyodor Dostoyevsky253,740
5. 5The Dragon RebornRobert Jordan251,392Compare
6. 6The Woman in WhiteWilkie Collins247,378Compare
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

253,740

Chapters

23about 11,032 words each

Dialogue

47%of the words are inside quotation marks

Average sentence

14.3 words

Vocabulary

419 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