Growing up in Benghazi, Libya, young Khaled and his family overhear a short story read over the radio that is simultaneously outlandish and haunting where the protagonist is slowly consumed by his pet cat. The author is known as Hosam Zawa, is a nondescript name that will haunt Khaled in the years to come as Libya undergoes political turmoil and internal unrest. Khaled is able to escape to the UK, attending the University of Edinburgh as a student, until he gets pulled into the efforts of the rebellion with his friend Mustafa and both are nearly lethally wounded protesting the Qaddafi regime at the Libyan Embassy.

Mustafa and Khaled's lives are forever changed after this event as they are no longer able to return to the University of Edinburgh where they have been banned, nor can they return home to Libya in fear of being identified as one of the protestors. The two part ways after leaving the hospital, and with the help of a family friend, Khaled is able to find his footing again, despite having to continuously deceive his family about his whereabouts. Khaled eventually meats Hosam Zawa and reunites with Mustafa, and watches as his two friends become further involved with the Libyan Civil War.

I went into this novel with a very cursory knowledge of Libyan history and while it wasn't too detrimental, having a broader understanding of it certainly would have given additional context to some of the events throughout "My Friends". Nonetheless, Hisham Matar manages to keep the storyline focused on Khaled's relationships - with his family members and his friends - front and center, while showing how these geopolitical events simultaneously formed and tested these bonds. Told from Khaled's first person perspective, we watch as he grows and matures into an adult and the impact those around him have on his future path.

While I found the history and plot compelling, I struggled at times with the writing. The pacing is uneven throughout and some passages and sections felt superfluous, distracting readers from the main themes and storyline. Khaled's voice also felt unemotional and rote, at times robotic, even during harrowing and life-changing events. For example, I had difficulty finding empathy for him as a character when he seemingly so easily lied to his parents during his phone calls home and I wish Matar had spent more time exploring his emotions and characterization as much of this novel just felt like a series of events that Khaled was just witness to.

Overall, "My Friends" is a promising novel that centers on a lesser-written part of history that I'm sure many readers will welcome in January 2024.

My Friends by Hisham Matar was an absolutely beautiful novel. Spread out over the course of decades, Matar skillfully weaves the life story of his protagonist, Khaled. The book was an easy 5 stars, and explores themes of exile, friendship, family, country, and home.

Khaled was born in Benghazi, and one day as a young teenager, he is listening to a radio show with his father. The radio show airs a strange short story, one where a man is slowly eaten alive by his cat, and the story follows Khaled through his life. As a young adult, Khaled then moves abroad to Edinburgh to study at university, but when he is shot at a protest against the Qaddafi regime, he finds himself an exile. Unable to return to Edinburgh or Libya, Khaled must remain in London. In London, Khaled fosters his friendship with his friend Mustafa, and eventually meets Hosam Zowa in Paris - the author of the aforementioned short story. Khaled cultivates and reflects upon his friendships with these two individuals throughout the rest of the novel.

Unmooring is an important word throughout the novel, and the Matar eloquently creates a sense of being unmoored through the narrative style. The story is actually told as a series of recollections by Khaled after he says goodbye to Hosam, and as he walks through London he recalls different events throughout his life. Each recollections moves in almost a dreamlike trance, but it creates an uncanny sense of timelessness that it is important to the readers' understanding of Khaled as a character and his story. I also just love novels that mention anything in relation to translation - it's a theme that's been popping up lately in my reading and I loved Matar's take on translating between two languages. This is also important in our consideration of Khaled's life in exile, and the distance he is from his home country. I also found myself learning a lot throughout this novel, unfortunately I was not well-educated on Libya's recent history prior to reading this novel. However, this book has sparked in me a desire to continue to learn more and this story was a beautiful way for me to learn more.

All in all, this was a fantastic read, and I am so happy that this digital ARC was offered to me. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing group for the opportunity to read this digital advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley and Random House for the ARC (ebook).

A shining novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile.

While growing up in Benghazi during the oppressive Qaddafi regime, young Khaled listens to "The Given and the Taken" a short story broadcast on radio. The story will forever change Khaled and begin a journey from Libya to Edinburgh to London to broaden his mind and experiences.
Part of his journey will place him (alongside his friend Mustafa) at a protest rally in London where he is wounded by shots fired from within the Libyan Embassy. So begins a life in exile (he cannot visit or tell his parents for fear of their safety), adapting to a new culture, and friends and relationships along the way (both human and books) . Khaled will also come face to face with Howsam, the author of the story that changed his life.
There are so many thought provoking references I found within these pages---dependence, dream interpretation, memory, translations; just to scratch the surface. I will definitely read more Hisham Matar books.

3.5 stars. Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC - this is the first book of Hisham Matar's that I have read. It is a story of 3 friends, Khlaed, Mustafa, and Hosam and how they became a part of a protest at the Libyan embassy which had lasting effects on all their lives. The writing itself is very beautiful and I appreciated the themes of exile, asylum and defeats that are still a victory. I will admit to still being a bit puzzled by the BBC short story that is a catalyst for the book but I can see where Matar was trying to go with that. I also always appreciate learning about a place and time in history that I am less familiar with so that was a part of the novel I really enjoyed.

"My Friends" by Hisham Matar is so vivid and complex that I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading a work of fiction and not a memoir. We meet our lead, Khaled, watching his friend Hosam leave him, possibly forever, at a train station, and the reader wants to push Khaled to say more, to chase after his friend. Throughout this book, I found myself wanting Khaled to act differently many times, but this is not a book of grandiose, unrealistic actions and storytelling simply to appease the reader. This is the story of a young man exiled, usually acting in self-preservation or out of fear. While it is narrated through a lead who is sometimes frustrating, these are my favorite types of narrators because the frustration you have while reading their stories teach you so much more about yourself than an easy, agreeable narrator who does exactly as you wish. While I would like to say that Khaled almost never acted in a way that I think I would have, his actions as a somber, apprehensive human being are a testament to how most of us would actually behave in the wake of such uncertainty and tyranny. These actions are in strong opposition to his courageous (sometimes dangerously so) and actionble friends who fight on the front of the 2011 Libyan uprisings and seem about as frustrated with Khaled as the reader is throughout the novel. But Khaled is juxtaposed to his friends as a deep thinker, and a reflective, abstracted man. We are gifted Khaled, who is like a sponge queitly observing and absorbing so much information, and his reflections and musings are poetic and steadying in the midst of so much political chaos. It was a treat to read his story from his idyllic family beginnings in Benghazi, through his amorphous college years, through his adult life and finally throughout. By the close, the reader has a full understanding of what Khaled means when he refers to his "friend"... a word I will forever use with more care. I highly recommend this book and it is one of my top reads of the year.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC!

I really wanted to get into this book but it was difficult. Perhaps it was above my head? It just was not for me. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Luminous and heartbreaking, a story of exile, of the loss of one's homeland and family, missing all the years of familial life, having to forge a new never-imagined path in order to create a new life. Set around real events of violence by Libyans against Libyans in London, including the shooting of protestors chanting outside the Libyan embassy there by government officials, this is a story of loss, of forging one's way, of friendship, revolution, of words and literature, of being lost in a strange land and trying to make it your own, a story of fear too, of being watched, being denounced, being interrogated, one's actions threatening the safety of one's family. Khaled and Mustafa, both Libyan and 18, have been chosen to attend university in Edinburgh, it is an honor, and Khaled is warned by his historian/school principal father to not lose his way, to not be sucked in, and indeed Khaled is aware that among their Libyan friends at university there are the real students, the "readers" like he and Mustafa, but also the "writers" who are ostensible students but there to send back reports to Libya on the readers, to keep them, and their families in line under the dictator. In their third year, Mustafa convinces Khaled to go with him to London to protest the dictatorship at the Libyan embassy, a decision that will utterly change both their lives when government officials in the embassy shoot at the demonstrators, wounding eleven, including Khaled and Mustafa, and killing a young policewoman. They can't return to Edinburgh where they've already been denounced by the "writer" students as traitors. They can't return to Libya in case they were seen or recognized in all of the news footage of the shooting at the embassy. Phone calls are monitored and Khaled does not know if his parents are aware that he protested at the embassy or what happened to him there. Mustafa goes north to Manchester where he has an uncle, Khaled stays in London where a university friend offers him her parents' apartment in Notting Hill. It is the story of friendship, its shifting sands, among Khaled and Mustafa, and eventually Hosam, a writer whose short story affected Khaled especially greatly when he heard it as a teenager, and meets accidentally years later in Paris. Their lives will take different paths - first Mustafa will return to Libya when the revolutions there begins, then Hosam, while Khaled remains in London, teaching English Literature at a high school. The novel of these friends is framed by the long walk Khaled takes - after leaving Hosam at the train station after his short visit - through London back to his small rented flat in Shepherd's Bush where he has lived all these decades. What does it mean to be a son, a brother, a friend, a man in exile? A very special novel that also taught me more about Libya.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for an ARC.

Another impressive story from Matar. I'll definitely be recommending this title at my library. This seems like a good fit for one of our book groups as well.

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this novel, it wasn't for me. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

My Friends - Hisham Matar
When a young scholar from Libya, attending University in Scotland, reluctantly takes part in a demonstration protesting the autocratic government of Qaddafi, violence turns his world upside down, forcing him to seek asylum in England where he will live out his life, far from home and family. In beautiful prose, the author explores the importance and impact of ties with friends, family and culture as the protagonist/narrator deals with sense of self and life choices regarding politics, loyalties, love, war and the Arab Spring. This is a thoughtful, and thought provoking, novel.

My Friends by Hisham Matar is a deep and troubling book written about life in Libya under the reign of Muammar Gaddafi. Young Khaled spends his boyhood in Benghazi in a family of intellectuals. His father is a well-read professor who shares his love of books in conversations around the daily dinner table.

Khaled and his family listen to a BBC broadcast of a powerful allegory story of a man being eat, piece by piece, by a cat. The story “The Given and The Taken” was written, at the time, by an unnamed author. I could not but compare this story to the powerful anti-war tale “Johnny Got His Gun” written in 1938 by American author, Dalton Trumbo, about a mutilated soldier who awakens in a hospital bed with only his trunk and head left.

Khaled’s father eventually discovers the mystery author, Hosam Zowa, who eventually kindles a deep and lasting friendship with Khaled. This book follows Khaled as he leaves Libya for university in Edinburgh and onto London where there are choices to make and faces to wear. Khaled’s reading leads him to philosophers. He ponders Seneca who wrote “No one can wear a mask for very long; for true nature will soon reassert itself”. What is Khaled’s true nature?

This is a deep and profound work of literature that deals with the glory of family and friends and the devastation of tyranny.
Thank you to #NetGalley # Hisham Matar #ArabSpring #Friendship

This is a sweet but sometimes dark look at a young man's life as he grapples with his own identity in Libya and then later at the University of Edinburgh. Initially, listening to a podcast about a man eaten by his own cat, Khaled is intrigued and then very curious as he meets the author and they develop a firm and often fascinating relationship. The novel focuses on many themes including the regime and history, but of course family and relationships are center stage as Khaled matures and recognizes the importance of friends and we see him grow into a unique young man!
Thanks too NetGalley for this ARC!

when khaled sits with his family one night in benghazi, libya, his favorite radio reporter reads a short story about a man being slowly eaten by a cat. this inspires him deeply and he decides to study abroad in edinburgh. the story comforts him, but not as much as meeting the man who wrote it in the first place. a deep friendship blossoms between them, and it changes the course of their lives forever. after a shooting breaks out against protestors, khaled finds himself struggling to stay live, immediately receiving political asylum, and being unable to return to libya.

matar writes excellent prose, poetic in nature. i was captivated by his descriptions. while i felt khaled was a mostly silent character, the other characters definitely made up for it. this is a truly incredible novel about history, family, revolution, the regime, and, most of all, friendship.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.