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Original poster

October Book of The Month Discussion - In the Country of Men

166 replies

TillyBookClub · 30/10/2007 11:22

This is the thread to come to for tonight's Book of the Month discussion and live author chat. Just a reminder, we'll kick off at 8pm and chat about the book amongst ourselves for an hour. And then Hisham Matar, our author for this month, will join us at 9pm to answer questions and give us the inside story. We'll probably wrap up around 10pm.

If you can't make it this evening but would like to ask Hisham a question or two, please post them here now and Hisham will post his answers later on.

See you here at 8pm...
Tx

OP posts:
lalaa · 30/10/2007 20:52

Does anyone know any good (and fairly accessible, preferably short) factual books about the period and the regime?

CocoDeBearisCocoDeBear · 30/10/2007 20:53

What have I missed? DD2 temporarily up, now back to bed dosed up on Medised.

What I didn't understand was how the mother hated jiggy before the husband was arrested etc., but then seemed to love it.

FlameInHell · 30/10/2007 20:53

I'm after something like that too Lalaa - I sat there reading thinking "I know absolutely nothing about this"

FlameInHell · 30/10/2007 20:54

She seemed to suddenly fall in love with him - maybe it was seeing him vulnerable?

yajorome · 30/10/2007 20:55

I thought he saved the book because he thought his father would still want it and would be upset that they burned them?

Agree that bullying can easily come from a feeling of powerlessness. Think that's probably the case with a lot of the secret police types - and can see how they can recruit children to grow into those roles.

marimba · 30/10/2007 20:56

I think it was much more selfish than that. She kept saying that her men- S & her husband were always leaving her & after the beating, he wasn't going to be going out much

beanymum · 30/10/2007 20:56

I wonder how the mother coped after the father had died? It didn't seem to me that she was the same as the sorry alcoholic she had been when Baba was away. She seems to have been able to cope much better after her son had left. Perhaps it was a little like going back to the happy time before her marriage when she was looking forward to going off to study?

SusanNevs · 30/10/2007 20:56

perhaps the treatment of women as non-entities was at the root of the problem. the mother was not treated with respect, therefore accepted that her feelings/opinions were not valued, and then failed to properly instruct/guide her son.

Notyummy · 30/10/2007 20:57

Its really interesting...I hadn't really seen that in the mother. I thought she drank out of frustration about being forced into a marriage which she had eventually become resigned to. I did think that she had learned to respect him and the relationship had gradually grown.

fryalot · 30/10/2007 20:57

I thought he saved the book for his father as well. I really got the feeling that he thought they were burning his dad's books out of badness.

And they knew he saw what was going on and really should have explained.

Original poster
TillyBookClub · 30/10/2007 20:58

Right, its time for all our questions to be answered?I am thrilled to introduce Hisham Matar, our esteemed author of the month, who has logged in to chat to us personally for the next hour. Please do post up anything specific you?d like to ask him and we?ll try to get through all the messages in time.

Hisham, thank you very much for joining us. I thought we could start with a question that Champagne Supernova and quite a few others have posted on this thread ? how much of your own childhood and experience went into creating Suleiman?s world?

OP posts:
yajorome · 30/10/2007 20:58

Maybe the sex was about power, too? He always had power over her but after he came home beaten, she had a bit of power in being right maybe - or making her way of submission and betrayal the one he chose?

It hadn't clicked that she ended up arranging marriages though. I felt a huge amount of sympathy for her as she seemed to have no say in her life and was not that old herself.

MNHQ
JustscreamMumsnet · 30/10/2007 20:59

Yes that's an interesting question Coco - I wonder if she was so angry with him for his political activity and all the danger and stress that followed from that, that she couldn't help but fight with him but once he'd been caught it was effectively an end to his activity (for a while at least) so she was free to love him - and I thought she really did love him... (but that could be complete claptrap)

Notyummy · 30/10/2007 20:59

What I 'hadn't seen' was that she loved her husband so much that she was bereft without him. Not my reading of the text at all.

FlameInHell · 30/10/2007 21:00

But he knew that the book was wrong because he was going to give it to the guy in the car.

After the husband died she got her freedom back to be the woman she always wanted to be. I felt that she drank because she was young, alone with this son, no idea if the husband would be back alive etc - once Suleiman was gone, the husband died, she could be herself and had no need to drink.

CocoDeBearisCocoDeBear · 30/10/2007 21:00

In which case surely the father should have done his bit to instruct/guide his son, specifically re how not to reveal his shady secrets to the scary police types?

fryalot · 30/10/2007 21:00

yeah, I thought that, flame... once they had all gone she could be herself legitimately.

Jas · 30/10/2007 21:00

Joining Lalaa and Flame in embarassing lack of knowledge which I think impaired my enjoyment of the book a bit.

I will lurk a bit.....

FlameInHell · 30/10/2007 21:01

I got to the end, and thought back to what I was doing at the age she had Suleiman and it was frightening to picture me with a child!!!

lalaa · 30/10/2007 21:01

coco, perhaps the father was too involved in his political work to be the guide S needed?

Jas · 30/10/2007 21:04

The parents were totally cutting him out. He wasn't told aything at all about his fathers political activities. They seemed to think if they didn'tell him anything he ouldn't be aware.

Notyummy · 30/10/2007 21:04

Hisham, I would also be interested to know how autobiographical the book was? There are obvious parallels in your background, but it is a work of fiction....where did you draw the line?

FlameInHell · 30/10/2007 21:04

Not ignoring you Tilly!

Hello Hisham - thanks oodles for joining us

HishamMatar · 30/10/2007 21:05

Firstly, I would like to thank you for this kind invitation and thank all the book club members for having selected my book. I would also like to say that I have never done this before. I am a web-chat virgin. And you are robbing me of my virtue. Virtue is a heavy burden, though. Very appropriate then I also have the honour of being your first, of many I hope, ?author of the month? authors.

Now, about the autobiography question.

In the beginning it surprised and slightly irritated me whenever someone would accuse my book of being autobiographical. Yes, I did see it as an accusation for I felt it questioned the creative process and the power of the human imagination. But now I take it as a complement. Or I try to anyway. For it suggests that I have done my job well: that the story is believable. So you are right; it is not autobiographical. I have had better luck as a child than my protagonist ? and suspect as a man too, although I have no idea what Suleiman is up to these days. I am not a father, and so it did help that I was once a boy. Also having a nephew who was then, luckily, 9. I watched him. Watching is something I do. I think writing begins with observing and attending to the world. It is ultimately a kind of praise.

FlameInHell · 30/10/2007 21:05

That could have been for his own safety though - they didn't even seem to know that he knew about the place in Martyr's Square, so if they tried to keep him completely in the dark, he could never give out damning information and then feel guilt etc