mazza57's review against another edition
2.0
For me this book was just too much of a non event to make it worthy of more than Ok. Nothing was really developed enough to capture the soul of this reader
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
4.0
There's a blurb on the inside of the book jacket that refers to Matar as an Arabic Salman Rushdie. That feels like an adequate comparison, as this books seems to capture something about what it's like to be Arabic at the turn of the century. An excellent, excellent example of the power of postcolonialism in literature, extremely well-written though somewhat hard to relate to as an outsider.
Nuri's mother dies when he is very young, and his father soon remarries a young woman named Mona. Nuri has an odd sort of crush on Mona and the arrangement never feels quite comfortable to him. While vacationing in Europe, Nuri's father disappears, the apparent victim of a politically-charged kidnapping. Nuri grows into a man while standing on shaky feet, never quite fitting in peers at his England boarding school. A lovely examination of the struggles to find oneself in an ever-changing world.
Nuri's mother dies when he is very young, and his father soon remarries a young woman named Mona. Nuri has an odd sort of crush on Mona and the arrangement never feels quite comfortable to him. While vacationing in Europe, Nuri's father disappears, the apparent victim of a politically-charged kidnapping. Nuri grows into a man while standing on shaky feet, never quite fitting in peers at his England boarding school. A lovely examination of the struggles to find oneself in an ever-changing world.
jocelyn_sp's review against another edition
2.0
Bland, occasionally creepy. An opaque,unsympathetic narrator. The 'revelation' to the narrator, which had been clear to the reader many chapters earlier, fell rather flat.
joecam79's review against another edition
3.0
The demarcation line between "classic literary themes" and "plain old clichés" is sometimes so tenuous as to be practically non-existent. This is what I found myself thinking upon finishing "Anatomy of a Disappearance".
The protagonist of Hisham Matar's second novel (after the Booker-nominated [b:In the Country of Men|63657|In the Country of Men|Hisham Matar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386925450s/63657.jpg|2425175]) is Nuri, the son of an ex-minister of an unnamed Middle Eastern country who has lived in exile in Paris and then Egypt ever since that country's "beloved king" was deposed in the late 60s. At the age of 12 years, Nuri loses his mother to a mysterious illness. Two years later, tragedy strikes again when his father is abducted in Switzerland, presumably by his political enemies, an event which indelibly marks the boy's life.
This is a coming-of-age novel narrated, predictably, by the protagonist's older, wiser self. The plot features, surprise surprise, a young woman who acts as catalyst for Nuri's sexual awakening. This is Mona, Nuri's twenty-something flirtatious stepmother. So we have, in one broad stroke, the age-old love triangle, with an Oedipal complex thrown into the mix. In complete contrast to Mona stands Naima, the loyal, faithful servant who doubles as the narrator's surrogate mother.
It has become fashionable for literary novels to incorporate popular, populist elements - in this case, the dissident's disappearance gives the plot a thriller-cum-mystery element. Many narrative threads however remain unresolved, a de rigueur approach for any novelist wishing to maintain highbrow credentials.
An underwhelming and unresolved plot, a narrator who is not particularly likeable - what is it then that makes this flawed novel a worthwhile read? For me, it is Matar's undeniable mastery of language, which makes an otherwise unassuming book blossom into flowing, poetic prose. Take the title - in four words and just two nouns, Matar contrasts the themes of physical presence and loss, whilst hinting at the novel's underlying eroticism and the mystery at its heart. The book is rich with such images and hidden delights which make up for the "clichéd" thematic and narrative elements.
The protagonist of Hisham Matar's second novel (after the Booker-nominated [b:In the Country of Men|63657|In the Country of Men|Hisham Matar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386925450s/63657.jpg|2425175]) is Nuri, the son of an ex-minister of an unnamed Middle Eastern country who has lived in exile in Paris and then Egypt ever since that country's "beloved king" was deposed in the late 60s. At the age of 12 years, Nuri loses his mother to a mysterious illness. Two years later, tragedy strikes again when his father is abducted in Switzerland, presumably by his political enemies, an event which indelibly marks the boy's life.
This is a coming-of-age novel narrated, predictably, by the protagonist's older, wiser self. The plot features, surprise surprise, a young woman who acts as catalyst for Nuri's sexual awakening. This is Mona, Nuri's twenty-something flirtatious stepmother. So we have, in one broad stroke, the age-old love triangle, with an Oedipal complex thrown into the mix. In complete contrast to Mona stands Naima, the loyal, faithful servant who doubles as the narrator's surrogate mother.
It has become fashionable for literary novels to incorporate popular, populist elements - in this case, the dissident's disappearance gives the plot a thriller-cum-mystery element. Many narrative threads however remain unresolved, a de rigueur approach for any novelist wishing to maintain highbrow credentials.
An underwhelming and unresolved plot, a narrator who is not particularly likeable - what is it then that makes this flawed novel a worthwhile read? For me, it is Matar's undeniable mastery of language, which makes an otherwise unassuming book blossom into flowing, poetic prose. Take the title - in four words and just two nouns, Matar contrasts the themes of physical presence and loss, whilst hinting at the novel's underlying eroticism and the mystery at its heart. The book is rich with such images and hidden delights which make up for the "clichéd" thematic and narrative elements.
cuddleaporcupine's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
keliwurly's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
harisadurrani's review against another edition
5.0
Matar's words, like his characters, are beautifully delicate creatures.