The Arab of the Future 2: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1984-1985: A Graphic Memoir

from SandSing7

Riad is like a modern day Huck Finn, absorbing the sometimes disturbing culture that surrounds him with the innocent, dispassionate, questioning eyes of a young child. This technique allows the author to observe and report without needing to provide commentary. This is best seen in his portrayal ...

from EBT1002

The second installment in Riad Sattouf's memoir of growing up in a vaguely secular family in the Middle East, this graphic memoir is touching and heartbreaking all at once. With a dispassionate respect for the aspects of culture that are like the air that we breathe, Sattouf depicts the small Syr...

from corinnealyssa

Loved it! It's very poignant and darkly comedic and a wonderful way to explore a history that I know little about. I definitely plan to read the first installment as well, and will be on the lookout for other works by the author.

from bluepigeon

A great second installment of the Aran of the Future saga, a personal and humorous approach to a childhood spent in Syria and Libya in the mid-80s. Sattouf continues the telling of his rather blissful childhood, despite the unfinished house his family lives in (waiting for his father to start bui...

from eskandar

Though it is an immediate continuation of the first volume, "The Arab of the Future 2" nevertheless feels less fantastical than the first. The absurd and surely exaggerated claims in the first volume about a childhood in Gaddafi's Libya--supposedly recalled from an age wherein the author was far ...