IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN

Short-listed for the 2006 Booker Prize, Hisham Matar's beautifully crafted retrospective recounts Muammar el-Qaddafi's brutal Libyan regime through a child's eyes. Stephen Hoye's narration is slow and sonorous as Suleiman relates his confusion at age 9 when the adults around him suddenly grow panicky, speaking in whispers. When his best friend's father is arrested, Hoye brings poignancy to the boy's worry that his own father will be next. He relates with matter-of-factness Suleiman's confession that when his father is away, his mother gets "sick" on the "medicine" she buys in secret, and rambles to him of her disappointments. With so much horror to digest, Hoye wisely doesn't try to infuse childish ingenuousness into Suleiman's observations. An exceptional debut novel is given an intelligent, respectful reading. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 07]