IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN by Hisham Matar

Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men is a powerful story told in a quiet, unassuming way by Suleiman, a nine-year-old boy in Libya under Qaddafi's regime. His father is a political activist, and his mother is an alcoholic who drinks to calm her fears during her husband's many absences. Suleiman's parents attempt to shelter their son from the oppression and violence that surrounds them, so that he picks up only snippets of information. Consequently, he is confused about whom to trust and is somewhat of an unsuspected liability to his father's clandestine activities. The mother resents having been forced by the men in her family to marry her husband, because she was deemed too reckless at fourteen. Her bitterness leads to an almost Oedipal relationship with her son, who dreams of going back in time and rescuing her from her fate. However, as in many arranged marriages, she adapts, and her marriage becomes her lifeline. In some ways, this book reminded me of The Kite Runner, as Suleiman's friendship with Kareem, whose father is also a rebel, deteriorates due to Suleiman's cruel betrayal of Kareem's confidences. One complaint that I had about this book was that it was difficult to distinguish the characters. Suleiman's father was known as Bu Suleiman (father of Suleiman?) and his mother as Um Suleiman (mother of Suleiman?), according to Libyan tradition, I guess. This was never explained, and I had to pick it up from context.