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In the Country of Men

by Hisham Matar

Average based on 1 comment. Synopses & Reviews Read an Excerpt Reading Group Guide Customer Comments (1) ISBN13: 9780385340434 ISBN10: 0385340435 All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleimans days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun, exotic gifts from his fathers constant business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve around his mothers increasingly disturbing bedside stories full of old family bitterness. And then one day Suleiman sees his father across the square of a busy marketplace, his face wrapped in a pair of dark sunglasses. Wasnt he supposed to be away on business yet again? Why is he going into that strange building with the green shutters? Why did he lie?

Suleiman is soon caught up in a world he cannot hope to understand—where the sound of the telephone ringing becomes a portent of grave danger; where his mother frantically burns his fathers cherished books; where a stranger full of sinister questions sits outside in a parked car all day; where his best friends father can disappear overnight, next to be seen publicly interrogated on state television.

In the Country of Men is a stunning depiction of a child confronted with the private fallout of a public nightmare. But above all, it is a debut of rare insight and literary grace.

From the Hardcover edition.

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About the Author

Hisham Matar was born in 1970 in New York City to Libyan parents and spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo. He lives in London and is currently at work on his second novel.

From the Hardcover edition.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

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Shoshana, June 18, 2009 (view all comments by Shoshana)
One of the better novels I've read recently. Matar gives us a narrative from a boy's point of view. Suleiman's story of his family life Libya under Qaddafi is not a war narrative, but partakes of many of that genre's elements, much like Ondjaki's "Good Morning Comrades." Matar's parallels, while not subtle, are also not too crudely rendered. Though this is a political story, its fire derives from the conflicting constellations of loyalty and repugnance within his family. A terrific oedipal tale that also reveals life in totalitarian Libya.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780385340434

Author:

Matar, Hisham

Publisher:

Dial Press

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Historical - General

Subject:

Bildungsromans

Subject:

Libya

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Edition Description:

Trade paper

Publication Date:

20080231

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

272

Dimensions:

8.22x5.53x.58 in. .49 lbs.

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In the Country of Men New Trade Paper Hisham Matar

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Product details 272 pages Dial Press - 2008-02-00 English 9780385340434 Reviews: