My Friends

A masterfully written, touching novel about three friends living in political exile and their emotional refuge – friendship. As a teenager, Khaled, sitting in the kitchen of his native Benghazi, one day heard on the radio a strange, mesmerizing tale of a man and a cat, which carefully and gently bites off pieces of him, and at the last moment, when there is almost nothing left of the man, he stops the cat with a brief "No." This story of a budding writer will determine Khaled's life, sending him to Edinburgh to study literature, and then to London, where in 1984 he will find himself at the center of a famous demonstration of Libyans protesting against Gaddafi's regime. The Libyan embassy opened fire on the demonstrators, and from this turning point begins Khaled's meditative, Eastern-relaxed, winding journey through life in the company of two friends. Matar's novel is a refined-simple reflection on what it means to have or not have a home, what home really is, how to survive alone with PTSD, what the elusive essence of friendship is, in which there are no debts and promises, no material connections and oaths of loyalty. There are books that grab you instantly but you quickly move away from them. "My Friends" is different. It slowly penetrates you, envelops you, just like a friendship without obligations – that friendship which is stronger than any obligations.

Translator: Maria Alexandrov