Hisham Matar is an in-family-exile American-born British Libyan writer. His debut novel “In The Country of Men” (about a child whose family are politically persecuted and terrorised in Qadaffi’s 1970 Libya) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006; his memoir “The Return” about his trip to Libya in 2012 (after the fall of the Qadaffi regime) to investigate the disappearance of his political dissident father after being kidnapped by Libyan agents in Egypt won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2017 Folio Prize. (Note his second novel “Anatomy of A Disappearance”, although not strictly autobiographical, was partly a novelisation of the author’s childhood in Egypt with the main character’s dissident father abducted).

This is his third novel – and the first of his books I have read and I was strongly reminded of the writing of the work of the British Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah – 2021 Nobel Prize winner whose writing often centres around the fate of the involuntary exile.

This book is however more political and has as two key scenes (one played out directly in the novel with the main character a victim, one recounted via a letter to the main character from the titular friends who were key actors in it) two Libyan related incidents which I think will be imprinted on the mind of British readers of the right age: the 1984 Libyan Embassy shooting (and the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher) and Qadaffi’s 2011 death.

When the book was announced in March 2023 Matar said in what I think serves as an excellent introduction to it: <i>“It is a book about how people end up where they end up, and how often that seems to be determined as much by ideology or politics as by personal temperament. It is a book told across a walk, from St Pancras to Shepherd’s Bush, and therefore as well as being the story of these Libyan exiles, it is also a book about London.”</i>

Our first party narrator is Khaled – and the book is effectively narrated around 2016 as he walks back from Kings Cross (where he left his friend Hosam to catch the Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris) to his West London home.

Hosam is enroute to America where he is going to emigrate after having spent 5 years in Libya as part of the revolution, civil war and its aftermath. Khaled has never returned to Libya since coming to Edinburgh on a government scholarship to study English literature where he met his other close friend Mustafa (who also returned from exile to join the Libyan revolution).

As Khaled walks he reflects at considerable length on his past, many of the memories promoted by locations on his walk – with most of the novel being firmly set there and some formative experiences including:

In 1980 as a fourteen year old, hearing with his family (and particularly his father a highly respected headmaster who gave up his academic career and ambitions after Qadaffi took power in 1969) BBC World Service and the real-life London based Libyan born presenter Mohammed Mustafa Ramadan unexpectedly reading out a surreal but subversive short story by a young writer (who is Hosam)

The subsequent assassination of Ramadan at Regent’s Park Mosque

In his first year at Edinburgh, and trying to stay out of politics like his father, being persuaded by his closest friend Mustafa to take part in the protests outside the Libyan embassy and being shot and seriously wounded

He and the less seriously wounded Mustafa’s time in hospital where the publication of Hosam’s first short story collection acts to sustain them (although a subsequent radio interview where he does not speak against the Libyan government tarnishes his legendary status to them)

Realising that a return either to Edinburgh (where a number of the Libyan students are government informers) or Libya (where those who were shot have been proclaimed traitors) is impossible and ending up in a very passive and involuntary exile in London, for years deceiving his family as to his location let alone what happened to him

Many years later a chance (I would actually say close to implausible) encounter in Paris with Hosam so setting up their friendship

The events of the Libyan revolution as Mustafa and then Hosam return, and actively participate (including one of them discovering Qadaffi) but Khaled finds himself psychologically unable to return – driving a wedge between himself and two friends he had previously seen as opposites but who know have a bond between them much deeper than they have with him

Mixed with this is something of a reflection on various aspects of London – including the many famous novelists who lived there and various Arabic assassinations which occurred there.

Where the book excels I think is in two areas: a really strong overview of Libyan politics over decades (even if the central involvement of the three characters in key incidents is perhaps a little too strained) and, like with Gurnah, in its portrayal of the life of the political exile – neither truly part of their home or adopted country. Khaled’s resulting inability to get truly close to anyone, including to his beloved family is carefully and affectingly portrayed. If I had a criticism it is that the book rather drifts – which while it reflects Khaled’s own passivity and aimlessness (part character and part his fate) does make this a slow rather than engrossing read (and it is telling that I broke off and completed two other novels while reading this over a week or more).

Hisham Matar's latest novel is an epic narrative, which sweeps through decades and across continents, and yet remains tautly focused on one man, and the impact that one event has upon the course of his life.

Khaled travels with his friend to London, and become witness to, and victims of, the Libyan embassy siege in which PC Yvonne Fletcher was killed. Starting from this real life event, Matar draws out a beautiful narrative, constantly engaging, and which moved me numerous times whilst reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and can heartily recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

A very moving elegy to belonging and a meditation on friendship over the years. The impact of one decision to visit a demonstration has a knock on impact for the rest of a young man's life.

This book is so thoughtfully and beautifully written, it covers so much ground and is revealing about exile, the sense of self, friendship, relationships and family, it is an absolute heartbreaking joy to read.

A beautifully, written and evocative book about 3 Libyan student friends living in Europe because to return home would mean death. Drawing on real events, Khaled and Mustafa attend a protest in London outside the Libyan Embassy and are shot by snipers from inside, who also killed PC Yvonne Fletcher. The story follows them over 30 years and is not directly about the politics, It is about the meaning of friendship, family, loyalty and the choice between longing for home and staying in exile or returning to topple a dictator. The language of this book is astonishing and beautiful.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC

I started without knowing what to expect of the book, because I never read the author before. This book is about friendship, about what we feel and call home, about live in exile is, about family, about resilience this book is about a journey and the friendship and places we call home during that journey. I am amazed about how much I enjoyed the way the author wrote and how easy yo ready this book was for me. Is a bittersweet book because you got all the realities of exile and what comes with it. For be my first introduction to the autor I definitely will go and look some other books of him. Fairy a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️+ for me. Thank you very much to @penguinrandomhouse and special to Alexia Thomaidis for the access to this ARC. The publish date is: 9th of January of 2024 #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #penguinrandomhouse #books #hishamatarauthor

Sometimes you read a book that is so exquisitely beautiful and moving that you know it will stay with you long after you've finished it.- this is one of those books.

This is a story about friendship and exile ; about three lives that are connected by an event and the power of writing and words.

Khaled lives with his family in Libya- an educated, questioning family who are united in their appreciation of the writing of a young author called Hosam. When Khaled gets the opportunity to attend university in Edinburgh, he meets Mustafa and so begins a friendship that leads the two young men to be present at the Libyan Embassy siege in April 1984. The impact of this event changes the course of the men's lives ; they live in fear of reprisals and become exiles in London. The bond that ties them is deep and psychologically impacts upon their very existence.

When Khaled chances upon meeting Hosam some years later in Paris, a new dynamic is formed that further deepens the connections between the three men. The stories of Khaled, Mustafa and Hosam are told through events over the next 30 years- each man struggling to find his place in an 'alien' society but also torn with inner conflict of not seeing family in Libya. The turmoils and decisions that need to be made by each of the men has a profound impact on each other.

This is story that explores the impact of separation from loved ones, the isolation of being in a different country and observing what is happening to your 'homeland' from an outside perspective but most importantly the need for connection with others to make sense of what is happening in your own life and the wider world.

Having read a Month in Siena by Hisham Matar, a stunningly moving book about the impact of art on life after tragedy, it was of no surprise that the prose of My Friends would be equally beautiful and emotional. It would take a hard heart not to be drawn in to Khaled's world and not feel the dilemmas he encounters- his emotions are palpable. This is a book not just about Libyans in exile but a message about displaced people today who live under the fear of what happens when you stand up against a regime and find your own personal identity is in many senses taken away.

A book to slowly savour - powerful , emotional and deserving of any plaudits it should receive .

Thanks to an early netgalley proof I had the great pleasure to dive into Hisham Matar's upcoming  novel, " My friends". 

 Matar's entire body of work is overshadowed by his father's  tragic disappearence / abduction during Libya's Gaddafi regime. This political situation is also the ground base of  what happens  in "My friends". Khaled and Mustafa, both studying on a grant in the UK, decide to attend a demonstration of exiles in front of the Libyian embassy in London.  The shots fired from the embassy,  hitting Khaled, will forever dominate and change both friends lives and that of Hosam, a writer in exile, Khaled's closest friend. 

Matar is a master at describing the crueling effect and long reach of dictatorships into everyone's life. A powerful, brilliant novel that could not be more timely and a very moving portrait of the deep connection between these three friends and their family.

I learned so much from this book. I had never thought about the implications of events happening thousands of miles away and how their ripples travel.
Our narrator Khaled comes to the United Kingdom, from Libya to study in Edinburgh where he meets mustaha. Theirs is an off and on friendship until the fateful day they travel to London for the protest against Gadaffi. This changes everything for them both and they are forever tied.
Beautiful writing and description. I feel bereft now that I have finished it will remain with me for a long time

‘Friend. What a word. Most use it about those they hardly know. When it is a wondrous thing.’

This is a novel which explores the nature of friendship.

Khaled is an eighteen-year-old Libyan student in Edinburgh. He meets a fellow Libyan, Mustafa, who tends to dominate their friendship. It is as if Khaled does not want to disappoint Mustafa, so much so that he agrees to travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan Embassy against the then Qaddafi (sic) military regime. This demo really happened in 1984, with tragic consequences, which the author, Hisham Matar, describes really well.

This leaves the two friends unable to return home, to make meaningful contact with their families for fear of listeners, and the novel is about how well each adapt to their changed lives.

A third friend is Hosam who is a little older and a published writer. These three form a triangle of friends, though as Khaled is the narrator it feels as if he is at the centre.

Matar writes movingly and I like how the friendships are not perfect and how he shows how decisions affect others. The writing is very good and I would read more from this author.

I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers.