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Cover of The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

Book · Other fiction

The River is Waiting

by Wally Lamb

Page count, estimated reading time and reading quiz: everything to know before you start The River is Waiting, and the Vread challenge to get to the end.

Pages
565
Reading time
≈ 10 h 10 min
Checkpoints
16
Genre
Fiction
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Free on iPhone and Android.

How long does it take to read The River is Waiting?

At 565 pages, The River is Waiting is a long book. Expect about 10 hours 10 minutes of reading to finish it, based on 250 words per page and an average reading speed of 230 words per minute. A fast reader will go quicker; a careful read (or reading in a second language) will take longer.

At 30 minutes a day, that is about 21 days of reading. At the median pace of Vread readers, 72 pages per reading day, it takes 8 reading days. For a book of this length (400 to 599 pages), Vread readers who finish it take a median of 5.3 days between the first and the last checkpoint (Vread Reading Barometer 2026).

Reading days to finish it
30 minutes a day21 days
Vread median pace (72 pp./day)8 days

Estimates; see the method at the bottom of the page.

Prove you read it

The Vread challenge: 16 checkpoints

  1. Checkpoint 1, page 35
  2. Checkpoint 2, page 71
  3. Checkpoint 3, page 106
  4. Checkpoint 4, page 141
  5. Checkpoint 5, page 177
  6. Checkpoint 6, page 212
  7. Checkpoint 7, page 247
  8. Checkpoint 8, page 283
  9. Checkpoint 9, page 318
  10. Checkpoint 10, page 353
  11. Checkpoint 11, page 388
  12. Checkpoint 12, page 424
  13. Checkpoint 13, page 459
  14. Checkpoint 14, page 494
  15. Checkpoint 15, page 530
  16. Checkpoint 16, page 565

In Vread, The River is Waiting is split into 16 checkpoints, one every 35 pages or so. At each checkpoint, a question covers the passage you have just read: a correct answer validates the step, and your progress moves forward like a training plan.

The challenge: validate all 16 checkpoints through to the last page. No giant quiz at the end, no summary to copy out: short questions along the way that prove the book was actually read. It also works as a reading quiz to check your understanding before a test.

Also available in French on Vread.

Illustrative example

Checkpoint 1/16pp. 1–35

What a checkpoint looks like

A short, precise question about the pages you have just read: a character, a place, a choice.

The answer is in the text: reply in the app.

This is not a question from The River is Waiting: to avoid spoilers, the real questions stay in the app.

Answer in the app, one checkpoint at a time.

Summary, quiz, reviews: frequently asked questions

How many pages is The River is Waiting?
The edition listed on Vread has 565 pages. The exact count varies by edition (paperback, hardback, ebook).
How long does it take to read The River is Waiting?
About 10 hours 10 minutes of reading, or 21 days at 30 minutes a day.
Is there a quiz on The River is Waiting?
Yes: the Vread app has 16 reading questions on The River is Waiting, one per checkpoint, unlocked as you read.
Where can I find a summary of The River is Waiting?
Vread does not publish summaries: the app supports reading the book itself, part by part. Checkpoint questions cover what you have just read, which makes them a good way to check you did not miss anything.

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Read The River is Waiting with Vread

Add the book to your library, read at your own pace in whatever format you use, and validate each checkpoint. Vread is free on iPhone and Android.

Take the challenge

Written by Vread from its catalogue data (page count of the listed edition, checkpoints, ratings aggregated from 10 ratings). No summary or publisher text is reproduced. Reading times are estimates; see the method in the Vread Reading Barometer (in French).