How long does it take to read Ake?
the years of childhood
Ake by Wole Soyinka takes about 4 hours 13 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours 13 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1982. 230 pages, about 63,250 words.
9 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 7 hours 2 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours 13 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 38 minutes |
The page count is the median across 14 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
A dazzling memoir of an African childhood from Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian novelist, playwright, and poet Wole Soyinka. "Aké: The Years of Childhood" gives us the story of Soyinka's boyhood before and during World War II in a Yoruba village in western Nigeria called Aké. A relentlessly curious child who loved books and getting into trouble, Soyinka grew up on a parsonage compound, raised by Christian parents and by a grandfather who introduced him to Yoruba spiritual traditions. His vivid evocation of the colorful sights, sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is both lyrically beautiful and laced with humor and the sheer delight of a child's-eye view. A classic of African autobiography, "Aké" is also a transcendantly timeless portrait of the mysteries of childhood.
Subjects: Social life and customs, Nigerian Authors, Childhood and youth, Biography, Authors, african, Nigeria, biography
