In the Country of Men

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Title In Evil Hour

Author	Hisham Matar
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Viking Press
Released	6 July 2006
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	256 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 978-0670916399 (first edition, hardback)

In the Country of Men is the debut novel from British author Hisham Matar, first published in 2006 by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books. It was nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. It has so far been translated into 22 languages.

[edit] Plot summary

The books follows the plight of Suleiman, a nine-year-old boy living in Tripoli in Libya, after his father is forced to flee the family household by Gaddafi's state police due to his involvement in anti-State activities. The only people he has to turn to are his neighbour Kareem, his alcoholic mother, and his father's best friend Moosa.

[edit] Characters

• Suleiman el Dewani - the nine-year-old narrator
• Faraj el Dewani "Baba" - Suleiman's father
• Najwa "Mama" - Suleiman's mother
• Moosa - Baba's best friend
• Kareem - Suleiman's next-door neighbour and best friend
• Ustath Rashid - Kareem's father and a co-conspirator of Baba; he has already been arrested when the book's narrative begins
• Sharief - a member of the Revolutionary Committee hunting Faraj el Dewani

[edit] Reviews

• Christian Science Monitor - Yvonne Zipp
• The Guardian - Kamila Shamsie
• The Independent - David Dabydeen
• Independent on Sunday - Benedicte Page
• New Statesman - Samir el-Youssef
• The Observer - Oscar Turner
• The Telegraph - Katie Owen
• The Times - Celia Brayfield
• The Washington Post - Ron Charles