It’s 1992 and an adolescent Riad Sattouf is living in West France with his French mother and two younger brothers. His parents’ marriage is over, though they haven’t divorced yet, and his Syrian father has done something despicable: kidnapped his baby brother Fadi and gone back to Syria with him!
Riad Sattouf’s wonderful memoir series The Arab of the Future went through some uncertain times after the fourth book when his English language publisher decided not to publish the final two volumes in the series. So it’s great that Fantagraphics picked it up and, six years after the book appeared in French, the fifth book is now available in English for the first time - retitled here as The End of the Arab of the Future, Volume 1, as opposed to The Arab of the Future, Volume 5 - not least to give fans the closure of the series, but also because it’s a brilliant comic.
While his poor mother goes through hell figuring out how to get her youngest child back from Syria, going through various channels desperately - from seeing lawyers, to petitioning Danielle Mitterrand (the French president’s wife), to seeking reassurance from psychics! - Riad goes through the usual touchstones of growing up.
We see him make friends, get bullied, fall in love, having his heart broken, discovering books (HP Lovecraft)/classic comics (Moebius, Druillet, Bilal)/music (Nirvana’s Nevermind had just come out), finding his niche (art), trying to forge an identity (making his devastated mother laugh), all while wondering about the fate of his missing baby brother.
It’s an authentic and compelling portrayal of adolescence and growing up that transcends its time - I’m sure the experiences will resonate with many who grew up at any time period. And while it is often entrancing, I still found the story to be a bit thin overall - the high school beats are predictable, even though it’s offset with the more interesting scenes about his mother’s battles to get her son back - as well as repetitive and static after a while.
The book is also noticeably missing the series’ best character: Riad’s mad father. He’s such a great, memorable character, even if he is a complete bastard, written with such skill and nuance, and who played such a big role in the earlier books, that this book feels kinda empty without him, though his presence looms throughout all of it. But he does finally show up at the end - that final act is incredibly dramatic, leaving the reader on quite the cliffhanger that made me wish I had the next book to hand so I could see how it all played out.
Minor criticisms aside, the book is very enjoyable and I’m glad to see the series continuing after a brief pause - I wasn’t about to learn French to finish things out! Fans of the series will find plenty to love here - Sattouf’s masterful storytelling, keen eye for human behaviour and humour effortlessly carry you along the narrative. If you’re unfamiliar with this cartoonist’s work, the series is well worth checking out - it’s a fascinating memoir of growing up in a unique society like Syria had in the 1980s - though obviously don’t start here!
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