Captains Courageous vs Lord Jim: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Seafaring life, Sea Stories, Biography & Memoir, Adventure, Fiction
Captains Courageous
“The weather door of the smoking-room had been left open to the North Atlantic fog, as the big liner rolled and lifted, whistling to warn the fishing-fleet.”
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Captains Courageous tells of the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the spoiled son of a railroad tycoon, after he is saved from drowning by a Portuguese fisherman in the North Atlantic. He must work as a…
Lord Jim
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This compact novel, completed in 1900, as with so many of the great novels of the time, is at its baseline a book of the sea. An English boy in a simple town has dreams bigger than the outdoors and embarks at an early…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Captains Courageous highest: Captains Courageous 3.9 · Lord Jim 3.6.
- Captains Courageous is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 6 for Lord Jim.
- Lord Jim has the widest readership — 33698 ratings behind its score.
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Scores by source
| Captains Courageous | Lord Jim | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (22785) | 3.6 (33698) |
| Hardcover | 3.5 (25) | 3.5 (51) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (355) | 4.0 (89) |
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Reception
| Captains Courageous | Lord Jim | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 22785 | 33698 |
| Editions | 990 | 345 |
| Citations | — | 6 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 13229 | 34552 |
| Reading it now | 976 | 2453 |
| Written reviews | 1240 | 2031 |
| Wikipedia attention | 2599 | 7447 |
| Pages | 191 | 332 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Captains Courageous or Lord Jim?
Captains Courageous has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Captains Courageous 3.9/5, Lord Jim 3.6/5).
Which is shorter to read: Captains Courageous or Lord Jim?
Captains Courageous is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Captains Courageous (191 pages, ≈ 3 h 32 m); Lord Jim (332 pages, ≈ 6 h 09 m).
Which is harder to read: Captains Courageous or Lord Jim?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Captains Courageous: Challenging; Lord Jim: Challenging.
Have both books been made into films?
Captains Courageous: 1 film adaptation; Lord Jim: 5 film adaptations.