How long does it take to read Midaq Alley?
Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz takes about 5 hours 40 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 40 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1947. 309 pages, about 84,975 words.
12 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 27 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 40 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 32 minutes |
The page count is the median across 59 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Considered by many to be Naguib Mahfouz's best novel, Midaq Alley brings to life the residents of one of the hustling, teeming back alleys of Cairo in the 1940s. From Zaita the cripple-maker to Kirsha the cafe owner with a taste for young boys and hashish, from Abbas the barber who mistakes greed for love to Hamida who sells her soul to escape the alley, these characters vividly evoke the sights, sounds, and smells of Egypt's largest city. Long after one finishes reading, the smell of fresh bread lingers, as does the image of the men gathering at the cafe for their nightly ritual. Never has Nobel Prize-winner Mahfouz's talent for rich and luxurious storytelling been more evident than in Midaq Alley. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Subjects: Fiction, Arabic fiction, Middle eastern philology, Egypt, fiction, Cairo (egypt), fiction, Fiction, general
