To be published in US/UK Sept. 12, 2017
TThese are the memoirs of Riad Sattouf’s childhood. He was born in France, but when his father graduates with his doctorate, they move first to Libya, and then to his father’s homeland, Syria. The series was originally published in France to a mixed reception. The son of an Arab father and a French mother, Sattouf is often seen as anti-Arab. At the same time he s admired and seen as a master of graphica up there with Spiegelman, Satrapi and Sacco. He has the hard satirical stance that worked for his regular column in Charlie Hebdo. Sattouf has come to fame recently as the only Arab contributor to Charlie Hebdo, at the time of the massacre. You can read more about him and the controversy around this book–some people find him racist and insensitive, others are great admirers.
These are full integrated graphic works. The drawings are essential to the storytelling. The people are cartoonish– each character’s nose is the most prominent feature. Despite the simplicity of the drawings the characters thoughts and feelings are clearly communicated. A nice touch is that even though each the format is basically black and white, each country has it’s own colour wash: France is blue, Libya is yellow and Syria is pink, with the occasional object in full colour. Abdul-Razak (his father)’s radio is red. Gadafi, and portraits of him and his green book are green and the soldiers’ berets, when they get to Syria are deep red.
New Yorker
New York Times review of AotF
New York Times review of AotF 2
Guardian AotF
Guardian AotF 2
Arab of the Future website
Writing About Reading 