Libya

Reading this book was an intimate experience. The narrator's relationships with his family, himself, his country, and especially his friends were portrayed beautifully, with nuance and honesty. Sometimes reading a narrative so driven by introspective — maybe due to the reflective nature of the story-telling, the acceptance of events and regrets, I'm not sure. Khaled's fear and paranoia after the embassy shooting was also so striking to witness — how it kept him from his family for so long, from his country forever; how it evolved over time; how he reacted when confronted with the same feelings from his friend later on. The story was structured as Khaled sharing his story with us as he walked home from seeing his friend off. So by the end of the book, I finally knew who that friend was, his importance and story, and re-reading the first few chapters felt like coming full circle. To me, *My Friends* was equally about the path taken and the path untaken, and how our relationships take shape around them. There was also a common theme of the power of writing, literature, language, and translation in transcending time and space. I don't think I've had as deep of a reaction to a piece of writing as Khaled did to the short story he hears in this novel, but I hope I do sometime in my life. The search continues. What did I learn about Libya? I'd only known the recent history in broad strokes from the news, so I definitely learned a lot about the socio-political situation surrounding the Libyan part of the Arab Springs. And as usual, it's so different hearing the story from a character you can relate to on a human level (that's why we love fiction!), and in particular the intersecting paths of Khaled and his family and friends as they navigated the unrest, oppression, rebellion, and so on revealed how complex, dynamic, and chaotic it was... and how personal, and un-personal at the same time. I also really loved hearing about the general vibe, because I never made the connection that Libya has a Mediterranean climate: cypress trees, olive oil, swimming in the sea.