A review by alexisreading23
The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar

4.25

A memoir of Matar's return to Libya after many years in search of his father, abducted and imprisoned under Gaddafi. I initially read Matar's novel 'Good Friends' which encouraged me to pick this up. Apart from being an immensely talented writer, this memoir weaves in a highly readable account of Libya's modern history and political turmoil that forms a foundation for Matar's personal story. I am usually not too drawn towards memoirs as a genre but this was certainly memoir at its best. Having read both his fiction and non-fiction, it is easy to see how Matar's own life informs his tender and engaging writing on the themes of political exile, friendship, and loss.