The Arab of the Future 3: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1985-1987

In the third installment of the acclaimed series the Sattouf family begins to implode under the pressure of Hafez al-Assads regime and the suffocation of their rural Syrian village. The Arab of the Future is the widely acclaimed internationally bestselling graphic memoir that tells the story of Riad Sattoufs peripatetic childhood in the Middle East. In the first volume which covers the years 19781984 his family moves between rural France Libya and Syria where they eventually settle in his fathers native village of Ter Maaleh near Homs. The second volume recounts young Riads first year attending school in Syria (19841985) where he dedicates himself to becoming a true Syrian in the country of Hafez al-Assad. In this third volume (19851987) Riads mother fed up with the grinding reality of daily life in the village decides she cannot take it any longer. When she resolves to move back to France young Riad sees his father torn between his wifes aspirations and the weight of family traditions.