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How long does it take to read Back Roads?

Tawni O'Dell

Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell takes about 6 hours 27 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 6 hours 27 minutes

A weekend read

First published 1999. 352 pages, about 96,800 words. Written for young adults.

13 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 10 hours 45 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 6 hours 27 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 2 minutes

The page count is the median across 10 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

"Harley Altmyer, the heartbreaking and lovable hero of Tawni O'Dell's debut novel, should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his stifling coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three beloved but unruly younger sisters. He has, at best, a shaky hold on the vicissitudes of day care, mac and cheese dinners, and visits to a once-devoted mother who seems not only resigned, but glad to hand over the reins of motherhood to her son.". "Life is further complicated when he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two down the road. He wants Callie Mercer so badly he fears he will explode. Family secrets and the unspoken truths long held at bay collide with his obsession, unearthing a series of staggering surprises."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects: Teenage boys, Married women, Psychological fiction, Brothers and sisters, Problem families, Dysfunctional families

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