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How long does it take to read Arrow of God?

Chinua Achebe

Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe takes about 4 hours 53 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

Part of African Trilogy

Previous: No Longer at Ease

About 4 hours 53 minutes

A weekend read

First published 1964. 266 pages, about 73,150 words.

10 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 8 hours 8 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 4 hours 53 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 3 minutes

The page count is the median across 28 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

In the Igbo villages of Umuaro in Eastern Nigeria in 1921, Ezeulu, old and dignified Chief Priest of the god Ulu, finds that his authority as spiritual leader is strengthened when a war which he has tried to prevent between Umuaro and a neighboring community is stopped by the British District Officer. Feeling compelled to respect the knowledge and power of the white man, Ezeulu sends one of his young sons to learn Christianity so that he will know the secret of such strength. But this brings the conflict between old ways and new to a head as the boy, in an excess of freshly-inspired Christian enthusiasm, tries to kill a royal python, a creature most sacred in the religious traditions of Umuaro. After this, Ezeulu's opposition to the authority of the white man becomes more pronounced, but his noble obstinacy, although it achieves a temporary victory over Captain Winterbottom, brings tragedy in the end. This moving story captures the atmosphere of African village life, the beautiful proverb-laden language of the Igbo and their strangely formal customs of worship and hospitality.--From publisher description.

Subjects: Fiction, Igbo (African people), Nigeria in fiction, Igbo (Pueblo africano), Novela africana, Novela nigeriana

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