The Arab of the Future 1: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984

Starred review from July 13, 2015
This first part of former Charlie Hebdo columnist Sattoufâs autobiography was a controversial bestseller in France. It follows his early childhood through stints in France, Libya, and Syria, and his cross-cultural alienation from all of them. Sattoufâs father is Syrian, his mother French, and his story recounts the way his father commandeered their family life to reconcile himself with his Arab heritage. Though he is often forced back to France, Sattoufâs father takes teaching jobs in dictator-run Arab countries, then works to convince himself, and his family, that their near-utopian dreams are close to coming true. But through the authorâs young eyes these regimes are revealed for all their weirdnesses and hardships. Despite his fatherâs determination to integrate his son into Arab society, little Sattoufâwith his long blond hairânever fully fits in, and this report reads like the curious pondering of an alien from another world. Caught between his parents, Sattouf makes the best of his situation by becoming a master observer and interpreter, his clean, cartoonish art making a social and personal document of wit and understanding. Agent: Marleen Seegers

Starred review from July 15, 2015
A child's-eye view of upheaval in the Arab world and its relations with the West. The first work by the acclaimed French cartoonist and filmmaker to be published in English is sure to extend his renown. "My name is Riad," writes Sattouf on the first page. "In 1980, I was two years old and I was perfect." However, such perfection came at a cost for the blond-haired, bright-eyed, delicately featured protagonist, particularly after his family left his mother's native France to further his academic father's vision of "pan-Arabism. He was obsessed with education for the Arabs. He thought that Arab men had to educate themselves to escape from religious dogma." Yet there was no escape from religious dogma, political repression, or rootless poverty. The author chronicles his father's spurning of an appointment from Oxford because "they misspelled my name in the letter" for one that moved the family to Libya, where dreams of equality came at a price, since squattership seemed to trump ownership where living quarters were concerned. Though a return to France would have been welcome, the father moved the family to his native Syria, which was not what he remembered or envisioned, where the son found the morning call to prayer to be "the saddest voice in the world." It appears through the narrator's innocent eyes that much of the adult world was seriously out of touch with reality, though he felt even more threatened by his peers and relations, who made fun of his "ugly yellow Jewish hair." Somehow, the narrative is both very funny and very sad, though the fact that this book even exists shows that a boy's artistic gifts were finally permitted to flourish. Sattouf has also worked as a columnist for the satirical Charlie Hebdo, but the social commentary here is more wistful and melancholy than sharp-edged. This first volume of a memoir "to be continued" is subtly written and deftly illustrated, with psychological incisiveness and humor.

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September 15, 2015
French cartoonist and film director Sattouf grew up mostly in Libya and Syria, and this memoir recounts his peripatetic childhood. His mother, a student from Brittany, met his Syrian father at university in Paris. Shortly after Sattouf's birth, his father took an academic position in Tripoli, where he hoped to promote his grandiose vision of pan-Arabism; instead, the family struggled to navigate a dysfunctional society under the thrall of Gaddafi. After a brief retreat to France, they resettle in his father's village in Syria, where the casual cruelty of the childrenin one grueling scene, they play soccer with a puppymirrors the brutality of the Hafez al-Assad regime. Sattouf relates the harrowing events of his youth, in particular, the megalomaniacal behavior of his father, with a clear-eyed detachment and in a straightforward, if cartoonish, drawing style, which makes his account all the more distressing. Although his works have been translated in 15 languages, this is his first appearance in English. Expect it to receive the same acclaim here that it already has worldwide.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2015

When Riad's Syrian father shows his son how to draw a Mercedes, he insists that the wheels are rectangular--one of many disjunctures between dogma and reality observed by the small child. Although Riad is born in France to a French mother, the family relocates to Muammar Gaddafi's Libya and then Bashar al-Assad's Syria, where despite idealistic propaganda, buildings crumble, food is scarce, squatters displace residents, trash and human waste are everywhere, and his father's dreams for pan-Arab sovereignty are obviously delusionary. Public cruelty dominates daily life: his cousins attack him, children torture puppies, hanged criminals dangle in public, and women eat the men's leftovers. Yet filmmaker/cartoonist Sattouf (Pascal Brutal) remembers fondly the smell of sweat and the taste of Syrian foods. His blobby characters and pastel halftones contrast ironically with the sometimes-grim content. VERDICT This snapshot of Middle Eastern countries in perpetual unease bears witness to the complexities of cultural conflict as well as the resilience of people just trying to live, perhaps coping by accepting misinformation simply to keep up hope. A solid read for students of culture clash and international affairs, high school and up.--M.C.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014

Sattouf uses the graphic format to tell a vibrant story of his family's travels from rural France to Gaddafi's Libya to Assad's Syria, herded by his larger-than-life Syrian Pan-Arabist father. Alas, once they join remaining family in Homs, the grand dream proves elusive as people starve and the slight, blond Sattouf is mockingly called Jewish--the height of insults. A No. 1 best seller in France that could be a smash here, too.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.