How Long to Read The Boy & the Old Man

How Long Does it Take to Read The Boy & the Old Man?

It takes the average reader 3 hours and 34 minutes to read The Boy & the Old Man by Omar Eby

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

So who is Omar Eby? A retired English professor (tenderhearted and cynical) who looks with affection and severity upon the young man he once was in Somalia. Ebys first chapter Learning My Name quickly and playfully sets the tone for this fascinating memoir, The Boy and the Old Man. Identifying with one Omar after another, Eby skips from a Taliban terrorist and a four-star general to a translator of Somali tales and an Old Testament duke; then recalls an English student in Mogadiscio and an Epicurean Persian poet; meets a Chilean Anabaptist and finally names the close friend of Prophet Muhammad, Omar ibn al Khattab. You think this an exercise in narcissism? Of course notthe author finds too many ties linking a nave Mennonite missionary boy to Muslim society and the incredible beauty of the natural worldshows too well the tensions between documented facts and dramatic memory. On the horn of Africa, Somali pirates seize tankers. On the mainland, clans fire rockets into each others quarters of Mogadishu, once the capital of the Somali Republic. But Omar Eby remembers another Somalia, when he taught there 50 years ago. Through the grid of accumulated years, Eby studies that missionary boy. The reader hears two voices: the 23-year old boy and the 73-year old man. Often the old man loves the boy; often the boy embarrasses him. The Somalis, Eby remembers as beautiful and exasperating, then, in 1959, as now, in 2009. The chapters are like a series of transparencies laid down one on top of the other. The boys views overlaid by the mans two visits to Somalia in his thirties and then memory laid over everything. With more details, everything should be clearer. Yet, Eby writes in the Introduction, we are pleasantly surprised to find that the historically reconstructed self is still blurred, as muddy as the Shebelli River which flows through Somalia from the Ethiopian highlands.

How long is The Boy & the Old Man?

The Boy & the Old Man by Omar Eby is 208 pages long, and a total of 53,664 words.

This makes it 70% the length of the average book. It also has 66% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read The Boy & the Old Man Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 4 hours and 53 minutes to read The Boy & the Old Man aloud.

What Reading Level is The Boy & the Old Man?

The Boy & the Old Man is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy The Boy & the Old Man?

The Boy & the Old Man by Omar Eby is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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