This excellent novel about Libya spanning from 1984 thru 2016 revolves around three friends. Not to be confused with Fredrik Backman’s recent novel also titled My Friends, Hisham Matar writes about friendship during and after Qaddafi’s takeover of Libya, the Arab Spring of 2011, and the unfolding of a fractured government. 

The narrator, Khaled, grew up in Benghazi, but like many young people from educated families, leaves Libya for college, attending U of Edinburgh in Scotland where he meets Mustafa. Soon Khaled has been talked into attending an anti-Qaddafi protest at the Libyan Embassy in London’s St. James Square where both he and Mustafa are badly wounded, along with several others, when Qaddafi thugs open fire on the peaceful protesters. This scene, though fiction, closely resembles exactly what happened in this location in 1984.

When the novel opens, middle-aged Khaled is in London where he has lived his whole adult life. His friend Hosam has been visiting and they are saying goodbye. As they part, Khaled walks through the city recalling the early days of their friendship when Hosam, Khaled, and Mustafa, all from Benghazi, lived in London, studying, working, making friends, and missing home. 

The time frame of the novel can be a bit confusing as the story all enfolds in a single night when Khaled and Hosam part ways, but in this one evening, Khaled retells the story of an enduring friendship amongst Hosam, Mustafa, and himself which spans Edinburgh, Paris, London, Benghazi, family, country, books, revolution, and ultimately allegiance. 

They all choose a different path, but along the way, we see a beautiful and challenging friendship, the power and pull of home, and the motivations that pave the future. 

Matar’s writing is powerful and subtle, emotionally immersing us in this Libyan world of exiles who cling to each other when they cannot return to family or country, but who struggle to find a clear way forward even after the Arab Spring. 

An informative, moving, and beautifully written work of literary fiction and a National Book Award finalist.

Now I’d like to read his previous books.