Reviews

The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar

salmasri's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

caitowen26's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring tense fast-paced

4.0

bookishkitkat's review against another edition

4.0

A beautifully written memoir about how the personal and the political come together in an all consuming way. 

cammi's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective

5.0

erhwang's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

mssarahmorgan's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

hegesteindal74's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and War

yoreadzbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.25

chris_mcc's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

musicsaves's review against another edition

4.0

FIRST LINE REVIEW: "Early morning, March 2012." Okay, not a lot of deep "umph" to that sentence, but there's plenty of deep searching that goes on in the next 238 pages. Matar explores what it feels like to spend 25 years not knowing anything about a loved one, after he is kidnapped and thrown in the prison of a tyrannical dictator. The fluidity of time in this account is a bit confusing, but the emotional honesty can't be denied. Enlightening and heart-breaking.