Hisham Matar
My Friends by Hisham Matar blends fiction with historical fact. It takes the form of an extended flashback with the characters living against the backdrop of historical events.
The novel unfolds in the first-person voice of Khaled, a middle-aged Libyan living in exile in London. Hosam, his friend of many decades, is emigrating to America and Khaled is seeing him off. After the friends say their farewells, Khaled takes a circuitous walk through the streets of London to his small apartment in Shepherd’s Bush. He passes by familiar landmarks while reminiscing and reflecting on the last four decades of his life in exile and the close friendships he formed with his fellow Libyans. His recollections form the extended flashback. The novel alternates between the flashbacks and Khaled’s walk in London’s streets.
Khaled arrives as a student attending Edinburgh University in Scotland in 1983. There he befriends Mustafa, a fellow Libyan. The two are cautious about what they say and who they say it to because they are well aware that Gaddafi’s spies monitor the speech and activities of Libyans living abroad. Gaddafi had a history of bombing and murdering Libyan dissidents living in exile. In spite of the risks involved to themselves and to their families in Libya, the two friends go to London to participate in an anti-Gaddafi demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy in St. James’ Square. On that day, April 17, 1984, Libyan officials inside the embassy fire a machine gun into the crowd of unarmed protestors. This is an actual historical event. A young policewoman is killed, and several protestors are wounded. Matar blends historical fact with fiction by situating the two friends among the demonstrators who are shot. The two spend several weeks recuperating in a London hospital. But their fate has been sealed. They can no longer return to Libya. Khaled is burdened with physical and internal scars forever.
Taking it one day at a time, the two friends try to adjust to life in England. Mustafa becomes a successful real estate agent and Khaled becomes a school teacher. On a trip to Paris, Khaled encounters a fellow Libyan, the writer Hosam, also living in exile for writing a political allegory advocating resistance to the Libyan regime. Hosam returns to England and constitutes the third member of this close-knit group. The days turn to weeks; the weeks turn to months; and the months turn to years. It has now been thirty-two years since Khaled left Libya.
Mustafa eventually returns to Libya to join the resistance fighting Gaddafi’s regime. Hosam follows his footsteps not long after. When travel restrictions ease after the fall of Gaddafi, Khaled’s sister and parents visit him in London. They urge him to come home, but Khaled is reluctant to do so. Too much time has elapsed. He has changed; Libya has changed. His is a life adrift between two worlds. He is out of time and out of place.
Matar captures the pain and grief of exile, the reluctance to fully commit to one’s adopted country, the yearning for home, and the recognition that home as one knew it no longer exists. He also captures the intense feelings and shared understandings among three friends who have experienced the trauma, isolation, and rootlessness woven into the fabric of exile. The novel’s pacing is skillfully handled, slowing down for crucial events and accelerating when needed to compress the passage of time. Khaled’s interiority is explored with sensitivity. The narrative is compelling; the characters, authentic; the situation, heartfelt.
Highly recommended.