The Return

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After two and a half decades and numerous attempts to locate him Hisham Matar still does not know. A difficult read yet a compelling one.

After I finished the book this Persian poem came to my mind: Feb 10, Mikey B. This is about prisoners in the jails of Libya during the long Qaddafi dictatorship. From there he was sent to Libya and essentially disappeared in the morass of the Libyan prison system.

This happened in when the author was 19 years old. Understan This is about prisoners in the jails of Libya during the long Qaddafi dictatorship. On occasion he would even receive a letter from his father that was smuggled out of the prisons — and it was essential to never reveal these letters to the outside world, because tragedy would doubtless occur to anyone involved in this letter trafficking. After the overthrow of Qaddafi in , the author returns to Libya meeting family members, some of whom were imprisoned.

There are many affecting passages. Page my book So much information is lost that every small loss provokes inexplicable grief. Power must know this. Power must know how fatigued human nature is, and how unready we are to listen, and how willing we are to settle for lies.

Power must know that, ultimately, we would rather not know. Power must believe, given how things proceed, that the world was better made for the perpetrator than for those who arrive after the fact, seeking justice or accountability or truth. Power must see such attempts as pathetic, and yet the bereaved, the witness, the investigator and the chronicler cannot but try to make reason of this diabolical mess Yet also, with every folding year, like the line of a step mimicking the one before it, it becomes increasingly difficult to escape, to give up altogether on what has been invested so far, least of all the person swallowed up by the injustice.

Eventually, the original loss, the point of departure, the point from which life changed irrevocably, comes to resemble a living presence, having its own force and temperament. This became an Orwellian maze of doubletalk of never-ending questions and spurious demands. There were aspects that irritated me about this book. The last half is far stronger than the beginning of the book. At pages this book could have been shortened. Often, within a chapter, several strains of thought digressions occurred, covering different intervals of time.

There were also descriptive passages which seemed inconsequential. The author can be very self-absorbed. It is also very male-centred. Women are relegated to the periphery. Were not women incarcerated by Qaddafi? Even so the last half of the book has searing passages of life in Libya during the years of Qaddafi.

It provides insight as to what life is, for both those living inside and outside a dictatorship. And sadly, as the author mentions, democracy and rule-of-law aspirations have disappeared, with Libya now descending into another form of lawlessness. I strongly recommend this moving account of a man coming to terms with his father's disappearance under the brutal Gaddafi regime in Libya. Hisham Matar and his brother were born into a wealthy Libyan family and were both educated overseas. In the family fled to Cairo, fearing for their safety.

His family never saw him again. For several years they believed Jaballah to be imprisoned in Cairo, but one day in they received a cassette recording of his voice, which had been smuggled from the infamous Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. They received a few more letters from him during the s, and then nothing. In , Hisham returned to Libya accompanied by his mother now living between Nairobi and Cairo and his American wife. Unlike if someone is executed or murdered, those that remain must live with an intolerably cruel uncertainty - is their loved one still alive?

If so, where are they? Are they the same person or have they changed beyond all recognition? Matar ponders that the people running oppressive regimes must know this - hence how common it is for people to disappear under tyrants. Taking away that certainty is a harrowing - and effective - form of torture.

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Matar is an assured writer and this memoir is deeply moving. They did things, but were rarely quoted as actually saying anything, in stark contrast to the men. They were very much supporting characters, in both the practical and Hollywood sense. His mother fussed, his wife comforted, his aunts clucked.

I can't help it. Jul 17, Jean Borg rated it it was amazing. I had high expectations and it's one of the few books I ordered before the actual publishing date in these past few years, and the hardback and its beautiful cover was a joy to hold. It starts rather slowly, since the writer does not have the freedom as when writing fiction, but then he seems to get true to his mot I read Hisham Matar's previous two books last Summer, in anticipation to his reading at the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival.

It starts rather slowly, since the writer does not have the freedom as when writing fiction, but then he seems to get true to his motto which saved his life: But this book does not only survive, it conquers. An incredibly vulnerable and a heartbreaking memoir that will stay with me forever. A sad story but didn't work for me. After reading about this book I thought I absolutely had to read it. While studying at university in London, author Matar's father is kidnapped. Matar never sees his father again this is not a spoiler as it's on the flap and was noted in several book previews.

Yet the author hopes that his father might very well be alive, despite the horrors of the Gaddafi's regime. The book is the story of his journey and his search. The book was a struggle. I really wanted A sad story but didn't work for me. I really wanted to like it perhaps that's not quite the right word, considering the content There is a bit of an emotional distance and the book seems to meander here and there.

I understand his actual journey was probably something like this where does one to begin when so much time has passed and when the jailer has no care for keeping "records". It could be very much a matter of style. I had thought and maybe expected too much that this book would be more straightforward retelling of his story. I didn't find the writing as beautiful as others did and honestly found it to be a distraction.

Overall, the book wasn't for me. Glad I borrowed this one from the library.

I have researched the father I never met: I corresponded with the grandson of the Croatian Freedom Fighter who returned my dad's body to the U. Dad was a pilot of one of the distinguished Lightning airplanes that brought destruction from the air to Germany in World War II.

Was he suited as the young husband of my mother, or as my father? It is alive and current. The dead live in us. Grief is not a whodunit story or a puzzle to solve, but an active and vibrant enterprise.

It is hard, honest work. It can break your back. It is part of one's initiation into death. But grief is a divider; it move[s] each one of us into a territory of private shadows, where the torment incommunicable, so horrible outside of language.

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Jul 06, Nada Elfeituri rated it really liked it Shelves: This is Matar's third book, and his first departure from fiction. In this book he recounts the full experience of losing his father, the one that his previous books were based on. I'll be writing a full review on my blog once my mind takes it all in. Aug 02, Alex marked it as to-read.

An old friend says it's good and he's a smart dude, so. Jul 12, Claire rated it it was amazing. Oct 01, Laura rated it really liked it Shelves: In this powerful memoir, Libyan novelist Hisham Matar describes the state of hope and grief he has endured in the two decades since his father, Jaballa, was kidnapped by Qaddafi's regime in Imprisoned and kept isolated from other prisoners, Jaballa managed to send only a handful of letters to his family before he disappeared without trace. To this day, no-one is sure what happened to him, although it is likely that he died in a massacre at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli in Living in exile since the s, Hisham returned to Libya for the first time in , following the revolution that brought down Qaddafi and his regime.

In beautiful language, he describes the difficult state of exile, its mix of guilt and pain, as well as the powerful meetings with his uncles and cousins, many of whom had also been imprisoned, and for whose release he campaigned tirelessly. When Qaddafi took my father, he placed me in a space not much bigger than the cell Father was in. I paced back and forth, anger in one direction, hatred in the other, until I could feel my insides grow small and hard.

And, because I was young, and hatred and anger are a young man's emotions, I tricked myself into thinking the transformation was good, that it was akin to progress, a sign of vigour and strength. Beschreibungen des Landes bleiben vage. Trotz des interessanten Themas keine Empfehlung. Add a new book 3 17 Jun 11, The Return by Hysham Matar - 5 stars 1 10 Feb 18, When he was three years old, his family went back to Tripoli, Libya, where he spent his early childhood.

Due to political persecutions by the Ghaddafi regime, in his father was accused of being a reactionary to the Libyan revolutionary regime and was forced to flee the country Hisham Matar was born in New York City, where his father was working for the Libyan delegation to the United Nations. Due to political persecutions by the Ghaddafi regime, in his father was accused of being a reactionary to the Libyan revolutionary regime and was forced to flee the country with his family.

They lived in exile in Egypt where Hisham and his brother completed their schooling in Cairo. In he moved to London, United Kingdom, where he continued his studies and received a degree in architecture. In , while he was still in London, his father, a political dissident, was kidnapped in Cairo.

He has been reported missing ever since. However, in , the family received two letters with his father's handwriting stating that he was kidnapped by the Egyptian secret police, handed over to the Libyan regime, and imprisoned in the notorious Abu-Salim prison in the heart of Tripoli. Since that date, there has been no more information about his father's whereabouts. Hisham Matar began writing poetry and experimented in theatre. He began writing his first novel In the Country of Men in early In the autumn of , the publishers Penguin International signed a two-book deal with him, and the novel was a huge success.

Books by Hisham Matar. Trivia About The Return: Quotes from The Return: So much information is lost that every small loss provokes inexplicable grief. Their lives intertwine as a devastating event must be prevented.

After a frantic suicide attempt, Veronika awakens inside a mysterious mental asylum. Under the supervision of an unorthodox psychiatrist who specializes in controversial treatment, Veronika learns that she has only weeks to live. A magical crab works wonders for a terrible chef's culinary skills, leading her towards the man of her dreams. A Manhattanite book editor finds her take on the game of romance changed after she lures the attention of an influential older man.

The restless sales representative of a transport company Joanna Mills travels from Saint Louis to Texas in a business trip. She is haunted by violent visions and after meeting her client, she visits her lonely father. On the next morning, she decides to visit La Salle, a small town where she has never been before, but she had recollections of many locations.

She lodges in a hotel and later she meets and is befriended by the local widower Terry Stahl, who helps her from an aggression. Her daydreams and nightmares increase and she becomes obsessed for disclosing the truth about her visions of a brutal murder of a woman in a barn. Along her investigation, Joanna gets close to the killer and feels that her life is in danger.

I had high hopes for this film. Not particularly a big fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar but she isn't a bad actress by any means and provided my teen years with countless horror movies I enjoyed. That unfortunately is where the connection stops. I am not even sure this title should fall in the horror section, which is where I found it placed in my local blockbuster.

The film starts off well, keeps you guessing and involved.

This is indeed one of those films you'll get bored and itchy and glance at the back of the DVD case to see the runtime minutes. Up until the end I kept looking at these runtime minutes at the back assuming it must be wrong,.. Unfortunately it wasn't wrong. And the film and story if you can call it that , is very confusing and unrealistic.

I'd think its fair to say this film never intended to be realistic but the parallels between the dimensions of reality and fiction are just too blurred and silly.

The Return () - IMDb

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The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between

Joanna Mills, a traveling business woman, begins having nightmares of a murder that occurred 15 years ago. Soon she is drawn to an old farmhouse, where the murder took place. Thomas Hwan , Karoline Sofie Lee. London Korean Film Festival Share this Rating Title: The Return 7. Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.

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