Moving story of life in Libya under Quaddafi, told from the point of view of a child. Gripping, although I have to wonder whether a child would think that way - the character seems both too naive and too knowing. Could be that this is a real cultural difference, and I'm still thinking about the book, which is much to say in this age of read it and forget it novels. I sound a bit lukewarm, but I really recommend this novel.

I cannot imagine living in a country where the only way to save your son is to let him go. I cannot imagine what it must be like to leave in a country that does not afford you all the comforts of freedom. This book shares what it is like for children growing up in a country torn apart by fear and by force. It shows the lengths family will go to spare others. It is wonderfully written.

This was a book discussion group selection,. There was much enthusiasm for the writing style, character development, and the story, as well as the messages about universal human rights and individual responsibility, family dynamics, emotional trauma, cultural differences, and the oppression of women in an Islamic society.
The sensual description of the heat that is produced in the open sun reminded me of the beach walk in Camus' The Stranger. I felt my own skin burning and blistering as the narrator hops across a hot roof at midday.
The ending was the only slight let'down, as the group agreed that it dropped off with too little information to tie together all the loose ends about the motivations of the parents and their now adult son.

In the Country of Men is the first of 5 books we are reading in a community discussion series called " Muslim Journeys". I am so impressed with it that I wrote a review for the professor who is leading the study. I will quote some of my comments.

I was immediately captivated. I am amazed the Mr. Matar wrote it directly in Englgish and not in his native tongue. In my opinion, there was not a wasted word in the book. It is an example of the less linear and more colorful way that my friends from the Middle and Far East express themselves. Also, this story reveals how people who live in life-threatening situtaions learn to be exceptionally observant of the smallest details.

There is much more to this story than boy growing up in a totalitarian culture. All of us should open our minds and pay attention. It stimulated me to pose several provocative questions for the discussion group that I will not include here.

I lived in Libya for several years. This story brought back many memories. It is well written and captures a time and place that is beautiful and horrifying at the same time. It is worth the time to read and realize we are so fortunate to be where we are.

THE AUDIO BOOK (Unabridged)
Though I first read the print copy of the book, after listening to the unabridged CD version of it, I'd highly recommend it as the reader is terrific--i.e, reads slowly enough for one to digest the material and savor the language and 2) does not overly dramatize it.

FROM INTERVIEWS WITH THE AUTHOR
By the time I was ready to write a review of the book, too many had already been written. However, because my book group thought that the information I'd gleaned from others' interviews with the author added depth to their appreciation of his novel, I decided to post some of it here. And where relevant, I also added further background information via comments on others' reviews.

In interview after interview, Matar insists that Suleiman's story is not his story. "Suleiman's emotionally volatile and unpredictable mother plays a big role in his life whereas my mother and father were both very stable and reliable," Matar explains, adding that he had to research "how children of parents with drinking problems are affected."

However, says Matar, "I deliberately placed the action in the landscape I remember. The house is very much our house, the sea very much the sea I remember....The book was in a way an attempt to revisit the haunts of my youth and thus to try to wean myself of the country I had left and haven't been able to return to for over 28 years now....I failed, of course."

And, according to Matar, "the backdrop of Suleiman's story--the political unrest that was taking place--is based on things that did happen....But when I was Suleiman's age, it was very subtle. I sensed there were some things you could not say. You'd be sitting around the dining table and one of your uncles would say something and everyone would fall silent because they suddenly remembered there was a child at the table and he might carry these words elsewhere and then somebody would get arrested."

There were also public interrogations on TV, which Matar describes in retrospect as "very surreal." And he did occasionally see people he knew, including an uncle, being interrogated even though his parents tried to keep him from seeing any. But by the time he was 15, he says, "My father thought I was old enough to know what was going on in my country" and required him to watch a video of a famous execution. "It was deeply unsettling to me," said Matar, adding that he "loosely based the execution scene" in his novel on it.

Matar has been criticized by some for not writing a more political novel. According to the "Newstatesman," for example, "[Matar's] account provides us with no insight into the Libyan politics of the period, nor, oddly, does it generate any sympathy for the dissidents." Perhaps the reason some expected the book to do both is because of the fate of Matar's father.

Born in NYC while his father was serving briefly as a diplomat with the Libyan mission to the U.N., Matar and his family returned to Libya when he was 3. In 1979, when Matar was 9, his father's name appeared on a list the government wanted to interrogate, not because he was political but, explains Matar, "simply because he was a middle-class intellectual and a successful businessman" and thus "seen by the regime as bourgeoise." The family fled to Kenya and ultimately settled in Cairo, Egypt. It was not until then that Matar's father became a political activist and, says Matar, "began writing against the Libyan regime and organizing other exiles to unite and overthrow Qaddafi."

In 1990, when Matar was in school in England, his father, in Matar's words, "went to the front door and never returned." Though the family tried to find out what had happened to him, all the Egyptian government would tell them, says Matar, was that "he was being held because he'd crossed the line and done too much against one of their allies." Two years later, Matar's father managed to smuggle a letter out of the Libyan prison he'd been in since day 3; the next year they got another. That was l995 and the last time anyone heard from him, in spite of much help from many, including from Amnesty International.

In 2003, Matar wrote a moving piece for Amnesty International about the effect his father's disappearance has had on him and his family. "Torturous," was the word he used to describe the "vacancy" he's since felt. Asked recently how this had influenced his novel, Matar replied, "I don't know. One of the most difficult passages to write was the return of the father after he'd been tortured."

Though Matar's novel focuses on a young boy's inner turmoil and his mother's bitterness/ frustration rather than on Libyan politics, Matar has not been silent about the latter. In February of '07, Matar wrote an op ed piece for "The New York Times" entitled "Seeing What We Want to See in Qaddafi." In it he was highly critical of the 2004 deal the U.S. and Britain had made with the dictator in exchange for his help in their war on terror. One of his reasons, he wrote, was that "no country made it a condition in negotiations that Libya investigate the countless cases of the 'disappeared.' None of them compelled the Qaddafi government to even address the massacre at Abu Salim prison where, one night in June of 1996, more than 1,000 political prisoners were shot and killed." Matar now suspects that his father was one of the victims.

See the comments for the link to Matar's NY Times' article and the comments I added to others' reviews.

Reading this book is not a pleasant experience -- it has more to offer than mere pleasure. It grips you like a vise while you read it and haunts you for a long time afterwards. The book is short and claustrophobic, taking place almost entirely in one home. It is an intensive exploration of the way a regime like Qaddafi's corrupts everything in its grasp, from overall social structure to the workings of the individual mind.

The plot proceeds mostly by hints and implications, producing a gradually increasing sense of dread that is appropriate to this subject matter. The author's portrayal of the protagonist, a nine-year-old boy, is courageous and completely unsentimental, exposing the cruelty and selfishness of this child; his passionate, jealous attachment to his mother; and his ruined spirit as an adult.

This book challenged me! It raised emotions and memories deeply buried. I struggled with it, it wrestled with me, but in the end I think it is a very, very good read. I am thankful to the author.