In the Country of Men

In the Country of Men
by Hisham Matar

In the Country of Men
List Price: $12.00
Our Price: $6.34
You Save: $5.66 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.09 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Hisham Matar
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-26
ISBN: 0385340435
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback

Book Reviews of In the Country of Men

Book Review: A Tedious Novel with an unlikable narrator
Summary: 1 Stars

When I purchased the book, I was quite interested in the setting and eager to read it because a good friend of mine had been living in Libya when Qaddafi staged his coup; my friend barely escaped the country with his life.

But what a disappointment the book turned out to be.

My main problem with the novel was that the narrative was told from the perspective of a supremely spoiled and obnoxious child who misinterprets nearly every event that occurs. Because I disliked the narrator so much, I found myself detached from the events and characters, and ultimately uninterested in the outcome. Towards the end of the book, I even found myself hoping the state security police would abduct this petulant child and torture him. Out of stubbornness I finished the book, but it took a long time.

Summary of In the Country of Men

Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleiman's days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun, exotic gifts from his father's constant business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve around his mother's increasingly disturbing bedside stories full of old family bitterness. And then one day Suleiman sees his father across the square of a busy marketplace, his face wrapped in a pair of dark sunglasses. Wasn't he supposed to be away on business yet again? Why is he going into that strange building with the green shutters? Why did he lie?

Suleiman is soon caught up in a world he cannot hope to understand-where the sound of the telephone ringing becomes a portent of grave danger; where his mother frantically burns his father's cherished books; where a stranger full of sinister questions sits outside in a parked car all day; where his best friend's father can disappear overnight, next to be seen publicly interrogated on state television.

In the Country of Men is a stunning depiction of a child confronted with the private fallout of a public nightmare. But above all, it is a debut of rare insight and literary grace.


From the Hardcover edition.

Contemporary Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Books Read in 2008
Playing For Pizza (Limited Edition): A Novel ImagePlaying For Pizza (Limited Edition): A Novel
by John Grisham
Doubleday; Published: 2007-11-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $100.00
Price in other shops: $175.00
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears ImageThe Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
by Dinaw Mengestu
Riverhead Hardcover; Published: 2007-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $22.95
Lily's Crossing (Yearling Newberg) ImageLily's Crossing (Yearling Newberg)
by Patricia Reilly Giff
Yearling; Published: 1999-01-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.25
Price in other shops: $6.50
Every Crooked Pot: A novel ImageEvery Crooked Pot: A novel
by Renee Rosen
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2007-06-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Price in other shops: $9.95
In the Country of Men ImageIn the Country of Men
by Hisham Matar
Dial Press Trade Paperback; Published: 2008-02-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.30
Price in other shops: $12.00
Similar Books and other products
Half of a Yellow Sun ImageHalf of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Anchor; Published: 2007-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Secret River ImageThe Secret River
by Kate Grenville
Canongate U.S.; Published: 2006-04-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.39
Price in other shops: $24.00
The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.) ImageThe Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.)
by Dalia Sofer
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.19
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Inheritance of Loss ImageThe Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai
Grove Press; Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ImageThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot D?az
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.92
Price in other shops: $14.00
Black & White ImageBlack & White
by Dani Shapiro
Anchor; Published: 2008-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Reluctant Fundamentalist ImageThe Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
Harvest Books; Published: 2008-04-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.70
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Gathering (Man Booker Prize) ImageThe Gathering (Man Booker Prize)
by Anne Enright
Grove Press, Black Cat; Published: 2007-09-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.24
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears ImageThe Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
by Dinaw Mengestu
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2008-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops: $14.00
Out Stealing Horses: A Novel ImageOut Stealing Horses: A Novel
by Per Petterson
Picador; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.17
Price in other shops: $14.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories