Call number
GRAPH N SAT
Collection
Genres
Publication
Metropolitan Books (2015), 160 pages
Description
"In striking, virtuoso graphic style that captures both the immediacy of childhood and the fervor of political idealism, Riad Sattouf recounts his nomadic childhood growing up in rural France, Gaddafi's Libya, and Assad's Syria--but always under the roof of his father, a Syrian Pan-Arabist who drags his family along in his pursuit of grandiose dreams for the Arab nation. Riad, delicate and wide-eyed, follows in the trail of his mismatched parents; his mother, a bookish French student, is as modest as his father is flamboyant. Venturing first to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab State and then joining the family tribe in Homs, Syria, they hold fast to the vision of the paradise that always lies just around the corner. And hold they do, though food is scarce, children kill dogs for sport, and with locks banned, the Sattoufs come home one day to discover another family occupying their apartment. The ultimate outsider, Riad, with his flowing blond hair, is called the ultimate insult... Jewish. And in no time at all, his father has come up with yet another grand plan, moving from building a new people to building his own great palace. Brimming with life and dark humor, The Arab of the Future reveals the truth and texture of one eccentric family in an absurd Middle East, and also introduces a master cartoonist in a work destined to stand alongside Maus and Persepolis"--… (more)
Media reviews
The Arab of the Future is an authentic, emotionally honest memoir, and much more useful background reading for present events than a romanticised account of cosmopolitan, bourgeois Damascus would be.
User reviews
LibraryThing member csoki637
- Loved the use of distinct colors to represent each country (blue for France, yellow for Libya, red for Syria, green for the UK) and the effect of the black ink and spot color art
- The picture Sattouf paints of Syria (also Arabs) is such a dismal wasteland
- Ugh, his father's immature nationalism
- Father: "I'm the one who makes the decisions"
- The way his mother tiredly follows his father on every spontaneous scheme, birthing his children and quietly enduring his everyday male chauvinism
- Hard to put down; curious about part 2
- The picture Sattouf paints of Syria (also Arabs) is such a dismal wasteland
- Ugh, his father's immature nationalism
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and bloated sense of self- Father: "I'm the one who makes the decisions"
- The way his mother tiredly follows his father on every spontaneous scheme, birthing his children and quietly enduring his everyday male chauvinism
- Hard to put down; curious about part 2
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LibraryThing member bluepigeon
The Arab of the Future is about the hilarities of childhood in many languages and the absurdities of the Middle East, all rolled into one big timid childhood adventure. Little Riad's telling of his childhood mostly focuses on his father, the Western-educated Syrian Sunni Arab who has an opinion
Recommended for those who are curious about the Middle East, who like toy cars, toy soldiers, and mustaches.
Many thanks to the publisher and Library Thing for a copy of the book for my honest review.
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about everything and who freely contradicts himself frequently as he voices his colorful (and yes, absolutely offensive) ideas and thoughts from the role of women in society to being Christian in a Muslim country to the moral integrity of Africans... Riad has his own experiences with toddlers of his age, mesmerizing adults and children with his golden hair, which also makes him a target for being potentially Jewish (his mother is Brittany and blond...) Sadly, there is very little about his mother in this first book. She is mostly in the background, only once or twice showing some backbone to stand up to her ridiculous husband. Nevertheless, the political climate of Syria and Libya in the 70s, the joys of learning swear words, the strange childhood games, the large, dysfunctional families, the always-under-construction cities in the developing world... they are all captured with a very keen eye. Equally funny and poignant, the memoir provides a much needed glimpse into the daily life of people in the 70s in lands strange and unknown to us in the West. Recommended for those who are curious about the Middle East, who like toy cars, toy soldiers, and mustaches.
Many thanks to the publisher and Library Thing for a copy of the book for my honest review.
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LibraryThing member belgrade18
A charming graphic novel about the life of a child growing up in France, Libya, and Syria in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His mother is French and his father Syrian, and they all follow the naive and narcissistic father from country to country as he pursues his dream. Libya under Gadaffi and
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Syria under Hafez Al-Assad are portrayed as horribly dystopic, especially Syria, with low levels of education, environmental destruction, food shortages, fear of the regimes and each other, and a lack of understanding about the world abroad. The artwork combined with Sattouf's wit and keen observation of the world from the point of view of a child are delightful. When the story ends, Riad is about five of six, and there will clearly be a sequel (we hope!). Highly recommended, especially for those interested in the Middle East during this time period and in graphic novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member eachurch
A terrific graphic memoir which vividly illustrates the peculiar mind set of a Syrian pan-Arabist and his French wife, and the consequences of adopting this mind set to life of their young child. While revealing the absurdities and horrors of Gaddafi’s Libya and Assad’s Syria, Sattouf also
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manages to show the contradictions his well-educated father was willing to ignore in order to fulfill his dreams. The graphic format adds a great deal of texture to the story. Enlightening and entertaining. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
"The Arab of the Future" succeeds on several levels at once. In one sense, it's an unmistakably personal story told through the eyes of a bright, empathetic child who's forced to shuffle between two cultures, neither of which he understands completely. It's also a deeply political work: a
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recollection of a childhood spent in the shadow of the grand, now mostly disappeared, project of secular Arab nationalism. Sattouf's take on the Libya and Syria he saw as a child is clear-eyed and pitiless: he describes a desolate, poor, filthy landscape dotted by propaganda posters and half-finished construction projects and filled with hostile, uneducated people. His description of the bizarre government policies that came to be part of everyday life in Ghaddafi's Libya is also not to be missed. While Sattouf's descriptions of France aren't exactly glowing, either, in this sense, "The Arab of the Future" reminded me a bit of V.S. Naipaul's unsentimental take on the Caribbean, which mostly dispenses with any perceived romanticism to focus on the place's general air of sadness and underdevelopment. Sattouf's got a great eye for detail: from the cracks in the walls of his family's house to the way that animals were routinely mistreated in the Syria of his youth, the author effectively communicates the shock and sadness he felt after moving there. "The Arab of the Future" is a pretty good description of what severe poverty and long-term mismanagement can do to the collective personality of a country. The book is also a startlingly clear-eyed portrait of Sattouf's father, who is portrayed as a man caught between his provincial upbringing and the education he acquired later in life. While he was, understandably, the author's hero when he was a child, he also comes off, by turns, as a dreamer, a hopeless idealist, a bigot, and, to put it frankly, a bit of a fool. Sattouf's drawing style is also a pleasure: it's simultaneously precise and flowing, and the childlike script in which most of the book is narrated effectively underscores the main character's psychological vulnerability and rapidly diminishing childhood innocence. Recommended, and not just because the author's experience seems to speak directly to the historical and cultural moment we're experiencing right now. I hope to get my hands on volume two soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member quirkylibrarian
A memoir through a child's eyes and therefore basically plotless. I think the graphic novel format lent itself well to illustrating the mother's role, or lack thereof, in the story. The father, Abdul-Razak, is a failed man with an ego that far outstrips his actual successes. His personality,
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combined with the cultural (Libyan/Syrian/Arab) influences, guarantees that it's all about him. The story was mildly interesting, with tidbits of Libyan and Syrian history mixed in, but I had trouble getting over my intense dislike of the father, who is the central figure in an absolute way. Show Less
LibraryThing member sfosterg
I received a copy of The Arab of the Future through the Early Reader giveaway program on Librarything in exchange for a review.
In The Arab of the Future, the reader follows a child tour guide through his six years of life being whisked into dictator-ruled Libya and Syria and the French countryside
For a 160-page book, it really packed a punch. Sattouf’s memoir is presented with a veneer of humor that has an underlying blend of cultural commentary and human foibles.
In The Arab of the Future, the reader follows a child tour guide through his six years of life being whisked into dictator-ruled Libya and Syria and the French countryside
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from 1978-1984. Written and drawn by Riad Sattouf, the graphic novel pokes fun at his family, an idealist, Syrian father and bookish, French mother, and the cultures of the countries where they lived. Sattouf also gives insight into life under a dictatorship, like having someone else move into the house where they were living since ownership was prohibited. Furthermore, every square inch of public space should have an image of the country’s leader plastered all over. For a 160-page book, it really packed a punch. Sattouf’s memoir is presented with a veneer of humor that has an underlying blend of cultural commentary and human foibles.
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LibraryThing member Ling.Lass
The story of the author’s early childhood in France, Libya, and Syria. Sattouf's graphic novel evokes a sense of growing dread as we're introduced to people outside the immediate household, including the menacing neighborhood children, and Raid’s ever-more-disturbing relatives. The well told
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story provides a disquieting look at daily life during the regimes of several 1980s dictators. I’m eager to read the next volume. Show Less
LibraryThing member silentq
This was a detailed look at growing up French-Syrian, bouncing between France, Libya and Syria as a child. Riad's father grew more racist, sexist and militant as the book went on, or maybe Riad was just noting it more; it was a stark view at how little control children have over their environments.
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Riad struggled to fit in as a French speaking secular blonde kid in Arabic speaking Muslim communities. The family dynamics were interesting, he spends some time with each side of the family, but more focus was on his father's side as I assume that's what he was trying to illuminate. The art is a bit cartoony but evocative. The book ends with a "to be continued" note, it just covers Riad up until he starts school. Show Less
LibraryThing member InfoQuest
While blurbs can't generally be relied on, I was hoping that comparisons of this graphic memoir to Maus and Persepolis were more than mere marketing technique. I really enjoy graphic non-fiction, and memoir is often an intriguing use of the form. Unfortunately, this particular one feels more like
The central figure of this installment of what promises to be a multivolume work is Riad Sattouf's father, a displaced, French-educated Pan-Arabist who understandably strives to see the best in the flawed societies he's championed. But as portrayed in this volume, he feels flatter and more stereotypical than such a complicated figure perhaps ought to be. Like just about every other character in the book (with the possible exception of the author's French mother), his father is overall an unpleasant person and made harder to sympathize by cartoonish exaggeration of facial expression. I'd say the book was tremendously unflattering towards Arabs, except that it seems just as biased against every non-Arab represented. Even though the mother is an exception to this general rule, she's portrayed as a cipher and little space is devoted to depicting her reaction to the strange scenarios she found herself in.
Basically, while I appreciated Sattouf's exploring places and times I was unfamiliar with, I did not particularly enjoy or appreciate this book and don't anticipate looking more than casually into the sequels. As the focus likely shifts towards the author's own views and experiences, the narrative may become more nuanced and interesting, but if not, it doesn't seem likely to merit the comparisons to other, better examples of the genre.
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an extended political cartoon than personal experience, no doubt in part because it all takes place before the author's school years and I rather doubt it's based on more than fragmentary memories.The central figure of this installment of what promises to be a multivolume work is Riad Sattouf's father, a displaced, French-educated Pan-Arabist who understandably strives to see the best in the flawed societies he's championed. But as portrayed in this volume, he feels flatter and more stereotypical than such a complicated figure perhaps ought to be. Like just about every other character in the book (with the possible exception of the author's French mother), his father is overall an unpleasant person and made harder to sympathize by cartoonish exaggeration of facial expression. I'd say the book was tremendously unflattering towards Arabs, except that it seems just as biased against every non-Arab represented. Even though the mother is an exception to this general rule, she's portrayed as a cipher and little space is devoted to depicting her reaction to the strange scenarios she found herself in.
Basically, while I appreciated Sattouf's exploring places and times I was unfamiliar with, I did not particularly enjoy or appreciate this book and don't anticipate looking more than casually into the sequels. As the focus likely shifts towards the author's own views and experiences, the narrative may become more nuanced and interesting, but if not, it doesn't seem likely to merit the comparisons to other, better examples of the genre.
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LibraryThing member questbird
A French-Syrian recounts his early life in Libya under Gadaffi and in Syria. I found it fascinating because I am about the same vintage as the author, and I have visited Syria. It is part of a series apparently, so I look forward to reading the others.
LibraryThing member LibroLindsay
I'm left a little perplexed by this, but I wonder whether that was kind of the point. Even though this is all from Riad's POV, I kept being confounded by the father, who I thought was supposed to be progressive by reading the synopsis. I suppose he was by traditional Arab standards, but boy howdy.
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I kept waiting for the mother to leave, but I guess she was cool with it? The "Arab of the Future" concept for the Sattouf family isn't mentioned or made evident until the very end, so I just kind of had the feeling of being adrift during the read. Show Less
LibraryThing member fionaanne
Artwork is nice but the story is not interesting at all. I find it curious that the author's blond hair is so dark as an adult and I have to question his terribly vain recollections.
LibraryThing member steve02476
Liked it a lot, both the art and the (translated) text. Funny, sad, strange, but familiar too. Very short read, but I feel like I got a lot out of it. I don't usually read graphic fiction or in this case memoirs, but I enjoy it when I do.
Awards
Pages
160
ISBN
1627793445 / 9781627793445