In The Country Of Men
In the Tripoli of 1979, nine-year-old Sulaiman considers the origins of
mulberries. They are, he decides, "the best fruit God has created", and
imagines young angels conspiring to plant a crop on earth when they hear
that Adam and Eve are being sent down there as punishment. This could
be simply a charming piece of whimsy invented by a child - but the time
and place in which Sulaiman imagines it reconfigures the story into a
tale of dissidents (angels) and exiles (humans). The book follows the plight of Suleiman, a nine-year-old boy living in Tripoli in Libya,
stuck between a father whose clandestine anti-Gaddafi activities bring
about searches, stalkings and telephone eavesdroppings by Gaddafi's
state police, and a vulnerable young mother who resorts to various
drugs to bury her anxiety and anger. The only people he has to turn to
are his neighbour Kareem, and his father's best friend Moosa. The book
provides a gripping description of Libya under Gaddafi's terror regime,
and a beautiful narration of ordinary people's lives as they try to
survive the political oppression.
In The Country Of Men
In The Country Of Men
In The Country Of Men
In The Country Of Men
In The Country Of Men
In The Country Of Men
In The Country Of Men
No comments:
Post a Comment