In 'The Return,' Hisham Matar embarks on a deeply personal journey to uncover the secrets of his father's disappearance during the Libyan revolution. As he navigates the landscape of his childhood memories and the haunting realities of exile, Matar grapples with themes of loss, identity, and the weight of history. This Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir intertwines personal and political narratives, creating a poignant tapestry of longing and resilience. With lyrical prose, Matar invites readers into the heart of a family's struggle against the shadows of tyranny. Will the truth of his father's fate finally be revealed, and what does it mean for Matar's own sense of self?
By Hisham Matar
Published: 2017
""In the depths of loss, we often find the truest reflections of love and belonging; it is in the silence of absence that we learn to hear the echoes of our hearts.""
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • The acclaimed memoir about fathers and sons, a legacy of loss, and, ultimately, healing—one of The New York Times Book Review’s ten best books of the year, winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century When Hisham Matar was a nineteen-year-old university student in England, his father went missing under mysterious circumstances. Hisham would never see him again, but he never gave up hope that his father might still be alive. Twenty-two years later, he returned to his native Libya in search of the truth behind his father’s disappearance. The Return is the story of what he found there. The Pulitzer Prize citation hailed The Return as “a first-person elegy for home and father.” Transforming his personal quest for answers into a brilliantly told universal tale of hope and resilience, Matar has given us an unforgettable work with a powerful human question at its core: How does one go on living in the face of unthinkable loss? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Guardian • Financial Times “A tale of mighty love, loyalty and courage. It simply must be read.”—The Spectator (U.K.) “Wise and agonizing and thrilling to read.”—Zadie Smith “[An] eloquent memoir . . . at once a suspenseful detective story about a writer investigating his father’s fate . . . and a son’s efforts to come to terms with his father’s ghost, who has haunted more than half his life by his absence.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “This outstanding book . . . roves back and forth in time with a freedom that conceals the intricate precision of its art.”—The Wall Street Journal “Truly remarkable . . . a book with a profound faith in the consolations of storytelling . . . a testament to [Matar’s] father, his family and his country.”—The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) “The Return is a riveting book about love and hope, but it is also a moving meditation on grief and loss. . . . Likely to become a classic.”—Colm Tóibín “Matar’s evocative writing and his early traumas call to mind Vladimir Nabokov.”—The Washington Post “Utterly riveting.”—The Boston Globe “A moving, unflinching memoir of a family torn apart.”—Kazuo Ishiguro, The Guardian “Beautiful . . . The Return, for all the questions it cannot answer, leaves a deep emotional imprint.”—Newsday “A masterful memoir, a searing meditation on loss, exile, grief, guilt, belonging, and above all, family. It is, as well, a study of the shaping—and breaking—of the bonds between fathers and sons. . . . This is writing of the highest quality.”—The Sunday Times (U.K.)
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“"In the depths of loss, we often find the truest reflections of love and belonging; it is in the silence of absence that we learn to hear the echoes of our hearts."”
The Return (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
By Hisham Matar
Discover a world of knowledge through our extensive collection of book summaries.
Hisham Matar is a Libyan-American author and novelist, acclaimed for his evocative prose and poignant explorations of identity, loss, and belonging. He is best known for his notable works, including 'In the Country of Men,' which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and 'The Return,' a memoir that received widespread critical acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. Matar's writing often draws on his own experiences as the son of a political dissident, which informs his deep engagement with themes of exile and family trauma. His lyrical style combines rich imagery with intimate storytelling, making his works resonate on both personal and political levels.
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