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A Month in Siena
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return comes a profoundly moving contemplation of the relationship between art and life.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND EVENING STANDARD
After finishing his powerful memoir The Return, Hisham Matar, seeking solace and pleasure, traveled to Siena, Italy. Always finding comfort and clarity in great art, Matar immersed himself in eight significant works from the Sienese School of painting, which flourished from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Artists he had admired throughout his life, including Duccio and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, evoke earlier engagements he'd had with works by Caravaggio and Poussin, and the personal experiences that surrounded those moments.
Including beautiful full-color reproductions of the artworks, A Month in Siena is about what occurred between Matar, those paintings, and the city. That month would be an extraordinary period in the writer's life: an exploration of how art can console and disturb in equal measure, as well as an intimate encounter with a city and its inhabitants. This is a gorgeous meditation on how centuries-old art can illuminate our own inner landscape--current relationships, long-lasting love, grief, intimacy, and solitude--and shed further light on the present world around us.
Praise for A Month in Siena
"As exquisitely structured as The Return, driven by desire, yearning, loss, illuminated by the kindness of strangers. A Month in Siena is a triumph."--Peter Carey
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND EVENING STANDARD
After finishing his powerful memoir The Return, Hisham Matar, seeking solace and pleasure, traveled to Siena, Italy. Always finding comfort and clarity in great art, Matar immersed himself in eight significant works from the Sienese School of painting, which flourished from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Artists he had admired throughout his life, including Duccio and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, evoke earlier engagements he'd had with works by Caravaggio and Poussin, and the personal experiences that surrounded those moments.
Including beautiful full-color reproductions of the artworks, A Month in Siena is about what occurred between Matar, those paintings, and the city. That month would be an extraordinary period in the writer's life: an exploration of how art can console and disturb in equal measure, as well as an intimate encounter with a city and its inhabitants. This is a gorgeous meditation on how centuries-old art can illuminate our own inner landscape--current relationships, long-lasting love, grief, intimacy, and solitude--and shed further light on the present world around us.
Praise for A Month in Siena
"As exquisitely structured as The Return, driven by desire, yearning, loss, illuminated by the kindness of strangers. A Month in Siena is a triumph."--Peter Carey
130 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2019
313 people are currently reading
6236 people want to read
About the author
Hisham Matar
19 books1,489 followersHisham Matar was born in New York City, where his father was working for the Libyan delegation to the United Nations. When he was three years old, his family went back to Tripoli, Libya, where he spent his early childhood. Due to political persecutions by the Ghaddafi regime, in 1979 his father was accused of being a reactionary to the Libyan revolutionary regime and was forced to flee the country with his family. They lived in exile in Egypt where Hisham and his brother completed their schooling in Cairo. In 1986 he moved to London, United Kingdom, where he continued his studies and received a degree in architecture. In 1990, while he was still in London, his father, a political dissident, was kidnapped in Cairo. He has been reported missing ever since. However, in 1996, the family received two letters with his father's handwriting stating that he was kidnapped by the Egyptian secret police, handed over to the Libyan regime, and imprisoned in the notorious Abu-Salim prison in the heart of Tripoli. Since that date, there has been no more information about his father's whereabouts.
Hisham Matar began writing poetry and experimented in theatre. He began writing his first novel In the Country of Men in early 2000. In the autumn of 2005, the publishers Penguin International signed a two-book deal with him, and the novel was a huge success.
Hisham Matar began writing poetry and experimented in theatre. He began writing his first novel In the Country of Men in early 2000. In the autumn of 2005, the publishers Penguin International signed a two-book deal with him, and the novel was a huge success.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 500 reviews
July 2, 2020
Bought this on a whim after I saw an attractive man in a stripy top reading this in London fields. If you see this, please get in touch! xo
December 18, 2020
3.5 stars
This is a follow up to Matar’s search for his father in The Return. The title absolutely sums up the book. It is a description of Matar taking time to do something he has wanted to do for some time, spend a month alone in Siena looking at art. Absolutely nothing happens and the danger is that it becomes a description of “What I did on my holidays”, an essay I used to dread writing at the beginning of an autumn term at school. Matar had been interested in Sienese art (dating from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) for some time. There are a fair number of colour reproductions of the art he spent time with. It is a short memoir, some fifteen chapters.
Matar describes the month and contrasts it with his usual life where he is normally wishing to be somewhere else:
“The strange thing was that I never suffered this in Siena. Every day and for the entire month I spent there I felt myself to be in time ...Everything I experienced was happening at the pace at which it ought to happen.”
Of course there is a link to his recent search for his father:
“I had come to Siena not only to look at paintings. I had also come to grieve alone, to consider the new terrain and to consider how I might continue from here. “
Matar describes his wanderings in Siena and of course, the art. He talks a little about some of the people he meets and a few friendships he strikes up. There is a bit about the art, its context and history, especially Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s allegories of good and bad government which adorn the Palazzo Pubblico. There are plenty of personal, moral and aesthetic perspectives and reflections. It’s about art love and loss.
As I said nothing really happens and some people will love this, others will find it pointless. This year I would have welcomed time like this to spend alone and reflecting but for most of us that will not be because of lack of time and resources (and at the moment the ability to travel).
This is a follow up to Matar’s search for his father in The Return. The title absolutely sums up the book. It is a description of Matar taking time to do something he has wanted to do for some time, spend a month alone in Siena looking at art. Absolutely nothing happens and the danger is that it becomes a description of “What I did on my holidays”, an essay I used to dread writing at the beginning of an autumn term at school. Matar had been interested in Sienese art (dating from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) for some time. There are a fair number of colour reproductions of the art he spent time with. It is a short memoir, some fifteen chapters.
Matar describes the month and contrasts it with his usual life where he is normally wishing to be somewhere else:
“The strange thing was that I never suffered this in Siena. Every day and for the entire month I spent there I felt myself to be in time ...Everything I experienced was happening at the pace at which it ought to happen.”
Of course there is a link to his recent search for his father:
“I had come to Siena not only to look at paintings. I had also come to grieve alone, to consider the new terrain and to consider how I might continue from here. “
Matar describes his wanderings in Siena and of course, the art. He talks a little about some of the people he meets and a few friendships he strikes up. There is a bit about the art, its context and history, especially Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s allegories of good and bad government which adorn the Palazzo Pubblico. There are plenty of personal, moral and aesthetic perspectives and reflections. It’s about art love and loss.
As I said nothing really happens and some people will love this, others will find it pointless. This year I would have welcomed time like this to spend alone and reflecting but for most of us that will not be because of lack of time and resources (and at the moment the ability to travel).
January 10, 2023
يكتب هشام مطر مقالات وخواطر حول رحلة مدتها شهر قضاها في مدينة سيينا الإيطالية، مقالات منعشة وعابقة بالتاريخ والفن واللغات وعلاقتها ببعض ورسائل حب لأبيه وزوجته ولكل من صادفه واللوحات التي شاهدها ولمدينة تاريخية جميلة .
July 28, 2024
Hisham Matar, a British-Libyan writer, spent a month in Siena looking at medieval art and coming to terms with the absence of his father, who was abducted in 1990 and whose fate is still unknown. This slim book, a kind of extended essay, mixes reproductions of some of the paintings with reflections on art, Siena, and personal loss.
When Matar tries to speak in profound generalities, I found what he was saying to be either not very convincing—
—or, if convincing, fairly banal:
On the other hand, when he sticks to the concrete and the personal, he can be very interesting. Looking at the portrayal of Tyranny in Ambrogio Lorenzetti's The Effects of Bad Government:
…Matar is reminded of ‘the graffiti that covered walls everywhere across Tripoli, caricuaturing the fallen Libyan dictator Muammmar Qaddafi’, which I found a wonderful comparison because I remember those images already appearing in the streets while I was there as a reporter in 2011. Sadly he doesn't include a picture for comparison, but here's a fairly representative one from Flickr user Isabel Esterman:
Similarly, it is fascinating to see Matar understand some of the language he hears in the street, and realise that certain words he knew of as Libyan dialect (baracca, tuta, marciapiede, cucina) are actually standard Italian, absorbed into Arabic during Italy's (rather dismal) experiment in colonialism.
When he sticks to these personal connections, he's very good; when he deals in abstract theories about art and Italian life, he is less so. Then again, if you like the kind of meandering travel writing where someone watches people going about their daily lives and turns it into a deep reflection on the human condition, this may well appeal to you more completely. Otherwise, you might find it at times a little pretentious and/or tenuous.
When Matar tries to speak in profound generalities, I found what he was saying to be either not very convincing—
museum guards […] strike me as spiritual beings, guardians standing at the gate of some nebulous but significant transition
—or, if convincing, fairly banal:
the future, no matter how uncertain, always seems distant. It is the guest who is forever not quite yet here.
On the other hand, when he sticks to the concrete and the personal, he can be very interesting. Looking at the portrayal of Tyranny in Ambrogio Lorenzetti's The Effects of Bad Government:
…Matar is reminded of ‘the graffiti that covered walls everywhere across Tripoli, caricuaturing the fallen Libyan dictator Muammmar Qaddafi’, which I found a wonderful comparison because I remember those images already appearing in the streets while I was there as a reporter in 2011. Sadly he doesn't include a picture for comparison, but here's a fairly representative one from Flickr user Isabel Esterman:
Similarly, it is fascinating to see Matar understand some of the language he hears in the street, and realise that certain words he knew of as Libyan dialect (baracca, tuta, marciapiede, cucina) are actually standard Italian, absorbed into Arabic during Italy's (rather dismal) experiment in colonialism.
When he sticks to these personal connections, he's very good; when he deals in abstract theories about art and Italian life, he is less so. Then again, if you like the kind of meandering travel writing where someone watches people going about their daily lives and turns it into a deep reflection on the human condition, this may well appeal to you more completely. Otherwise, you might find it at times a little pretentious and/or tenuous.
October 27, 2024
It's always difficult to review books like this (auto-fiction, fictional memoir) because at first glance it's all very moving and profound, full of philosophical and human insight, the temptation to be overwhelmed by such warm and pensive meditations very powerful. But ultimately, this feeling tends to fade as you get further away from the piece.
If you're a fan of Sebald, or any other kind of writer who presents fiction as a kind of reflective non-fiction, where the writer goes on flights of fancy throughout history and philosophy, discusses art and literature, and reminisces about his or her own personal loves and losses, then you'll very probably find this very compelling. The writer, Matar, a Libyan who loves art, goes to Siena for a month where he visits the galleries and museums and discusses the art in question. The book contains pictures of the pieces he is contemplating and his opinions are always thoughtful and engaging. Meanwhile, he will also go off on a variety of tangents which, among others, take in the lives of medieval Moroccan travellers, musicians, the Black Death, and ancient traditions. Then there are his personal issues, his kidnapped father, his wife, his encounters with people in Siena such as the Nigerian lady and the fellow Muslim who invites him for coffee. There is an obvious charm to the piece and, like I said, it owes a lot to the Sebald style of spinning a narrative out of personal experiences and historical events, all while offering opinion on several pieces of art.
I enjoyed it and found it very easy to read. But as I said at the beginning, these kinds of books are always hard to review as they seem more profound and meaningful as you read them than they do several weeks later when the dust has settled. It was a lovely book to read and I would definitely recommend it. Charming and reflective but ultimately a light read that probably won't go much deeper into my soul than any other entertaining piece of popular culture.
If you're a fan of Sebald, or any other kind of writer who presents fiction as a kind of reflective non-fiction, where the writer goes on flights of fancy throughout history and philosophy, discusses art and literature, and reminisces about his or her own personal loves and losses, then you'll very probably find this very compelling. The writer, Matar, a Libyan who loves art, goes to Siena for a month where he visits the galleries and museums and discusses the art in question. The book contains pictures of the pieces he is contemplating and his opinions are always thoughtful and engaging. Meanwhile, he will also go off on a variety of tangents which, among others, take in the lives of medieval Moroccan travellers, musicians, the Black Death, and ancient traditions. Then there are his personal issues, his kidnapped father, his wife, his encounters with people in Siena such as the Nigerian lady and the fellow Muslim who invites him for coffee. There is an obvious charm to the piece and, like I said, it owes a lot to the Sebald style of spinning a narrative out of personal experiences and historical events, all while offering opinion on several pieces of art.
I enjoyed it and found it very easy to read. But as I said at the beginning, these kinds of books are always hard to review as they seem more profound and meaningful as you read them than they do several weeks later when the dust has settled. It was a lovely book to read and I would definitely recommend it. Charming and reflective but ultimately a light read that probably won't go much deeper into my soul than any other entertaining piece of popular culture.
November 15, 2019
A perfect little book. The same clean, intimate writing as Matar’s The Return (an all time fave). Beautiful writing about grief, history, travel, art, family, relationships. Made me want to visit Siena!
October 2, 2023
A MONTH IN SIENA (2019) can be described as a long essay - or short memoir - about Hisham Matar's month long visit to Siena. His writing focuses on the 13th- to 15th-century Sienese School of paintings, however he also reflects on art, faith, love, and relationships. Perhaps this is the strongest part of this slim book: his musings on these subjects, on simple moments, on small interactions.
At the time, Matar was trying to come to terms with the death of his father, a Libyan political dissident who was kidnapped in Cairo in 1990 by Gaddafi’s regime and, it is assumed, later murdered, so his grief is always present in one way or another.
Matar's descriptions and analysis of the art he sees in Siena is, in my opinion, rather disappointing. Why describe a painting when the book includes a reproduction? His analysis are rather farfetched, unconvincing, strained, to say the least. The context in which the paintings were produced is hardly mentioned (except when he elaborates on the Black Plague), he doesn't even dwell on symbolism or allegory: he merely gazes at medieval art as if he were watching contemporary art.
A MONTH IN SIENA is a melancholy, brooding memoir, best read after THE RETURN, the book he wrote before. Not a great place to learn about art.
At the time, Matar was trying to come to terms with the death of his father, a Libyan political dissident who was kidnapped in Cairo in 1990 by Gaddafi’s regime and, it is assumed, later murdered, so his grief is always present in one way or another.
Matar's descriptions and analysis of the art he sees in Siena is, in my opinion, rather disappointing. Why describe a painting when the book includes a reproduction? His analysis are rather farfetched, unconvincing, strained, to say the least. The context in which the paintings were produced is hardly mentioned (except when he elaborates on the Black Plague), he doesn't even dwell on symbolism or allegory: he merely gazes at medieval art as if he were watching contemporary art.
A MONTH IN SIENA is a melancholy, brooding memoir, best read after THE RETURN, the book he wrote before. Not a great place to learn about art.
April 13, 2020
This is an exquisite small book, perfect isolation reading. I loved being in Siena with Hisham Matar. Every page has a beautiful thought to reflect on but it’s also easy company with great art & new friends. He’s such a lucid writer. I enjoyed The Return but found this even more moving. Highly recommended.
July 29, 2025
عرفت هشام مطر من صديقتي خلود، وخلود لا تقترح شيئًا إلا ويكون استثنائيًا. لا أعرف لماذا أجلت قراءة كتبه كل هذا الوقت رغم ثقتي العمياء بذوقها، وربما كنت – كحال هشام حين أجّل زيارته لسيينا – أؤجّل ما أعلم في داخلي أنه سيتركني على حالٍ غير الحال.
في ليلة أرق، حملت "شهر في سيينا" إلكترونيًا، وقرأت الفصل الأول... واندهشت. لا، بل صُعقت. شيء ما في الكتاب شدّني من أول سطر: البساطة العميقة، اللغة التي تلمسك برفق ولكن تترك ندبة، التفاصيل التي تمرّ بها فتشعر أن شيئًا داخلك قد فُتح. لم أستطع أن أكمل. في اليوم التالي نزلت واشتريته ورقيًا، لأنه ببساطة كتاب أعلم أنني سأعود له، مرارًا.
الكتاب يبدأ بهشام وهو ينتقل إلى سيينا، المدينة التي ظلّ يؤجل زيارتها رغم افتتانه الطويل بفنها ورسوماتها. وهناك، تتشابك المدينة وأزقتها التي تشبه المتاهة مع أحزانه الخاصة، مع ماضيه، مع رحلته المستمرة لفهم غيابات والده، وللبحث عن المعنى في الفن والحياة والكتابة.
ما يفعله هشام مطر في هذا الكتاب لا يمكن وصفه بسهولة. يتحدث عن اللوحات كما لم أرَ أحدًا يكتب من قبل. لا يصفها فقط، بل يحاورها، ويجعلها تحكي له، ويحكي لنا من خلالها. الماضي والحاضر والمستقبل تتداخل في سطوره بطريقة تأسر القارئ، تحرّكه، وتقطع قلبه نصفين، وربما أكثر.
الأسلوب؟ مذهل. الطريقة؟ آسرة. الترجمة؟ رائعة، لدرجة أنك تنسى أن هذا ليس نصًا كُتب بالعربية من الأساس. كل شيء في الكتاب يشدّك لتقرأه في جلسة واحدة، لكنه كتاب لا يُستهلك، بل يُعاد إليه، يُتأمل، يُترك ثم يُفتَح من جديد.
انتهيت من "شهر في سيينا"، لكن شيئًا مني بقي هناك، في تلك الأزقة، أمام تلك اللوحات، ومع هشام مطر وهو يسائل الجمال والفقد والحياة. الآن، أنتظر أن تقع يدي على بقية كتبه، وخصوصًا تلك التي يحكي فيها عن والده، الذي خُطف من حياته كما تُنتزع الروح.
الكتاب ياخذ قلبي من عشرة. أو ياخذ قلبي وخلاص.
في ليلة أرق، حملت "شهر في سيينا" إلكترونيًا، وقرأت الفصل الأول... واندهشت. لا، بل صُعقت. شيء ما في الكتاب شدّني من أول سطر: البساطة العميقة، اللغة التي تلمسك برفق ولكن تترك ندبة، التفاصيل التي تمرّ بها فتشعر أن شيئًا داخلك قد فُتح. لم أستطع أن أكمل. في اليوم التالي نزلت واشتريته ورقيًا، لأنه ببساطة كتاب أعلم أنني سأعود له، مرارًا.
الكتاب يبدأ بهشام وهو ينتقل إلى سيينا، المدينة التي ظلّ يؤجل زيارتها رغم افتتانه الطويل بفنها ورسوماتها. وهناك، تتشابك المدينة وأزقتها التي تشبه المتاهة مع أحزانه الخاصة، مع ماضيه، مع رحلته المستمرة لفهم غيابات والده، وللبحث عن المعنى في الفن والحياة والكتابة.
ما يفعله هشام مطر في هذا الكتاب لا يمكن وصفه بسهولة. يتحدث عن اللوحات كما لم أرَ أحدًا يكتب من قبل. لا يصفها فقط، بل يحاورها، ويجعلها تحكي له، ويحكي لنا من خلالها. الماضي والحاضر والمستقبل تتداخل في سطوره بطريقة تأسر القارئ، تحرّكه، وتقطع قلبه نصفين، وربما أكثر.
الأسلوب؟ مذهل. الطريقة؟ آسرة. الترجمة؟ رائعة، لدرجة أنك تنسى أن هذا ليس نصًا كُتب بالعربية من الأساس. كل شيء في الكتاب يشدّك لتقرأه في جلسة واحدة، لكنه كتاب لا يُستهلك، بل يُعاد إليه، يُتأمل، يُترك ثم يُفتَح من جديد.
انتهيت من "شهر في سيينا"، لكن شيئًا مني بقي هناك، في تلك الأزقة، أمام تلك اللوحات، ومع هشام مطر وهو يسائل الجمال والفقد والحياة. الآن، أنتظر أن تقع يدي على بقية كتبه، وخصوصًا تلك التي يحكي فيها عن والده، الذي خُطف من حياته كما تُنتزع الروح.
الكتاب ياخذ قلبي من عشرة. أو ياخذ قلبي وخلاص.
June 16, 2022
Book 8/30
This book is a collection of meandering thoughts, musings, and reflections from the author, which fits the nature of his visit to Siena quite well. Though a short book - just over 100 pages - I wound up reading each chapter two or three times, just because there is so much of value in Matar’s words.
It is a book for these times, it extols the values of art, humanity, and asks us to consider how are we changed by the environment and events that happen upon us.
June 2022:
It's been two years since I've first read this book and tomorrow I am headed to Siena.
This book is a collection of meandering thoughts, musings, and reflections from the author, which fits the nature of his visit to Siena quite well. Though a short book - just over 100 pages - I wound up reading each chapter two or three times, just because there is so much of value in Matar’s words.
It is a book for these times, it extols the values of art, humanity, and asks us to consider how are we changed by the environment and events that happen upon us.
June 2022:
It's been two years since I've first read this book and tomorrow I am headed to Siena.
December 6, 2022
Hisham Matar arrives in Siena one day to look at some paintings he had wanted to see for many years. His wife Diana accompanies him during the first few days but soon leaves. Every day Matar goes to an Italian language school, then to a museum, then on a long walk, exploring various parts of the city. One day he stumbles upon an old cemetery: “I knew then that I had come to Siena not only to look at paintings. I had also come to grieve alone, to consider the new terrain and to work out how I can continue from here”.
“A Month in Siena” is a quiet reflection on everything happening at the right time and place, and at the right pace. The author, having stopped, in a way, looking for his father, kidnapped in Cairo thirty years ago, had just published “The Return”, stunning memoir about his family and his return to Libya to look for traces of his father, now contemplates a closure. In Siena he surrounds himself with old art he admires and devotes a great deal of his attention and thoughts to. Except for Adam, a Jordanian man he encounters and befriends one day, his teachers and fellow students, and an old friend who lives nearby and whom he visits once, Matar doesn’t really speak to anyone except for when it’s necessary to communicate. Relative solitude and simplicity of a routine suit him. “And isn’t this the way one must surely live, for all time; that the true pleasure is not in hitting the target but in aiming at it?”, he asks one day.
I admire the elegant way Matar writes about his own mental states and emotions, his memories, his encounters with various people, conversations he has, tenderness. Having read all books by Matar and having interviewed him some years ago, I state with confidence that I know very few authors with a gift for capturing tenderness so effortlessly and yet so precisely, with such generosity of spirit. “A Month in Siena” is a perfect evocation of the period in life of a man between life chapters - so rarely recorded and yet so vital, so precious.
“A Month in Siena” is a quiet reflection on everything happening at the right time and place, and at the right pace. The author, having stopped, in a way, looking for his father, kidnapped in Cairo thirty years ago, had just published “The Return”, stunning memoir about his family and his return to Libya to look for traces of his father, now contemplates a closure. In Siena he surrounds himself with old art he admires and devotes a great deal of his attention and thoughts to. Except for Adam, a Jordanian man he encounters and befriends one day, his teachers and fellow students, and an old friend who lives nearby and whom he visits once, Matar doesn’t really speak to anyone except for when it’s necessary to communicate. Relative solitude and simplicity of a routine suit him. “And isn’t this the way one must surely live, for all time; that the true pleasure is not in hitting the target but in aiming at it?”, he asks one day.
I admire the elegant way Matar writes about his own mental states and emotions, his memories, his encounters with various people, conversations he has, tenderness. Having read all books by Matar and having interviewed him some years ago, I state with confidence that I know very few authors with a gift for capturing tenderness so effortlessly and yet so precisely, with such generosity of spirit. “A Month in Siena” is a perfect evocation of the period in life of a man between life chapters - so rarely recorded and yet so vital, so precious.
August 12, 2024
يغادر هشام مطر بلده الأم ليبيا بعد فشله في العثور على والده المختطف من قبل نظام معمر القذافي، ويسافر بعد ذلك إلى مدينة سينا في إيطاليا للنقاهة. ينقلنا المؤلف إلى مدينة ساحرة خلابة، ويسترجع ذكرياته وشجونه في طرقها واحيائها، كما يتحفنا في زيارته للعديد من المتاحف بتحليل ممتع للوحات فنية موضحا انطباعاته عنها.
October 29, 2025
I did two days in Siena, just enough to ‘do’ the Duomo (crowded) and the Palazzo Pubblico (empty). I bought this book in the latter place which was appropriate because the paintings and frescoes therein feature heavily (and are reproduced). All round beautiful. A swooning book, besotted by the place and dealing with grief.
February 10, 2021
3.5
A month of strolling in an old Italian town looking at art can provoke a lot of jealousy. Who wouldn't want to do it? And of course, you will imagine writing a book about it. Most people couldn't pull it through and it would be a tedious and self-centred account with a hint of privilege.
Hisham Matar spent a month in Siena, wrote about it and I think he managed to create something very beautiful and important.
With only 116 pages it is a slim novel. The passages where he looks at the painting and describes them are entwined with his own thoughts of time, closeness, the meaning of places and their history in our lives and a lot more.
People describing and analysing art is one of my least favourite things in books (along with crowded/dinner parties and spatial descriptions in nature such as valleys and hills) so those parts did not touch me personally.
What made up for it were the unbelievably precise observations about life, that seemed to come out of nowhere. There he was, stepping into a museum when suddenly there is a paragraph of the darkness one feels when imagining loved ones leading a life parallel to ours, how the closeness is a mere illusion. Or how tenderly he describes the people who we almost never notice - the guards in the museums. How they have been "burdened with the impossible task" of protecting the paintings they know they are incapable to protect.
At times, I could feel the vulnerability of the author so strongly that it was almost unbearable. It is a rare thing in literature, that the writer comes so close, although he is just articulating universal truths. I guess Matar managed to find those tiny, unseen truths, that we know are there but always fail to notice.
A month of strolling in an old Italian town looking at art can provoke a lot of jealousy. Who wouldn't want to do it? And of course, you will imagine writing a book about it. Most people couldn't pull it through and it would be a tedious and self-centred account with a hint of privilege.
Hisham Matar spent a month in Siena, wrote about it and I think he managed to create something very beautiful and important.
With only 116 pages it is a slim novel. The passages where he looks at the painting and describes them are entwined with his own thoughts of time, closeness, the meaning of places and their history in our lives and a lot more.
People describing and analysing art is one of my least favourite things in books (along with crowded/dinner parties and spatial descriptions in nature such as valleys and hills) so those parts did not touch me personally.
What made up for it were the unbelievably precise observations about life, that seemed to come out of nowhere. There he was, stepping into a museum when suddenly there is a paragraph of the darkness one feels when imagining loved ones leading a life parallel to ours, how the closeness is a mere illusion. Or how tenderly he describes the people who we almost never notice - the guards in the museums. How they have been "burdened with the impossible task" of protecting the paintings they know they are incapable to protect.
At times, I could feel the vulnerability of the author so strongly that it was almost unbearable. It is a rare thing in literature, that the writer comes so close, although he is just articulating universal truths. I guess Matar managed to find those tiny, unseen truths, that we know are there but always fail to notice.
February 9, 2025
so quiet and so honest, reads like you’re taking a walk in his mind
August 4, 2020
Hisham Matar è una scoperta, un narratore gentile di bellezza.
September 1, 2025
الكتاب في قلبي، هشام مطر كتاب عن شهر في سيينا وأنا في مكاني رفرفت معاه وتجولت في هذه المدينة العريقة بشعوري، اكتشفت مدينة جديدة لم أكن أعرفها، في إيطاليا، ما أجمله من شعور معرفة أنه هناك مكان زاخر بهذا الفن. حبيت في الكتاب إشاراته عن الحياة ممزوجة باللوحات ومن خبرته عن الحياة، تألمت لوالده وحبيت أنه ذكره في الكتاب.
القراءة جميلة والكتب الحلوة، الله لا يحرمني من هذا الجمال.🥺🙏
القراءة جميلة والكتب الحلوة، الله لا يحرمني من هذا الجمال.🥺🙏
December 17, 2024
أرفض بشكل شخصي في معظم الأوقات أن أنقل مشاعر صاحبتني أثناء قراءة أحد الأعمال لكني أقدم بعض الاستثناءات واليوم أفعل ذلك مجدداً…
أخذت الكتاب معي أثناء انتظاري في المستشفى لأقوم بطقس متكرر كل عدة أشهر يستنزفني نفسيا وأنتظر خلاله ساعات…
فتحت الصفحة الاولي وبدأت أقرأ وسط أصوات بكاء وصراخ الأطفال وتردد المراجعين المتألمين مع ذويهم المنهكين نيابة عنهم في عيادة المخ والأعصاب …وبعد مضي ٤٠ ص ارتسمت على وجهي ابتسامة كبيرة هادئة ومستسلمة للغايه وغير منزعجة بمضي اكتر من ثلاث ساعات في انتظار موافقة التأمين الصحي علي البدايه في أخذ العلاج…دخلت واستلقيت علي السرير في المستشفى وتركت ذراعي اليمنى للممرضة وانا امسك بالكتاب في ص ٨٢ بذراعي اليسري. وهاتفي ملقي الي جواري تنبعث منه موسيقى ل شوبان وباخ وبيتهوفن وموزارت من قائمة الأغاني المفضلة …لم أتوقف عن القراءة لحظه واحدة ولم أشعر بشيء غير اني أتجول في شوارع سيينا التي لم أزرها من قبل …استمتعت باللوحات و الروائح الجميلة والمختلفة…ابتعت الخضروات وصنعت الباستا الطازجة أيضاً…اختلفت مع بعض الاراء واتفقت مع الاخرى …تقاطعت ذكرياتي مع هشام مطر بالحديث عن طرابلس التي عشت بها وكانت فيها أول مدرسة تطئها قدمي…جلست علي كرسي المقبرة وبكيت أبي الذي ستحل ذكري وفاته الخامسه خلال أيام قليلة…وتمنيت من قلبي أن يحصل هشام وعائلته علي إجابة مريحة لسؤال بقي معلق لسنوات علي مشجب خلف الباب مع معطف شتوي طويل …ودعت ديانا في محطة الحافلات وتمنيت ان ألتقيها لنتحدث عن حبي لتصوير الآخرين صور يظنون هم أنها رائعة وأعتبرها عادية وعن صور أخرى تصيبني بالإحباط عندما أنظر لوجهي في محاولة منهم لرد الجميل…تمنيت أن ألتقي هشام مطر في متحف ما أمام لوحة ما لأخبره أني أعشق مدارس فنية أخرى لكني أتشارك معه في حب الصمت وأني سافرت الي هولندا فقط لأزور متحف يضم لوحات فان جوخ ومارست طقوس التأمل لساعات طويلة جدا …
لقد ساعدني هذا الكتاب في تحمل وخز الابر وذكري وفاة أبي الخامسه وألم أحمله معي من مكان إلى آخر ولا يبرح قلبي …شكراً للرفقة الطيبة.
أخذت الكتاب معي أثناء انتظاري في المستشفى لأقوم بطقس متكرر كل عدة أشهر يستنزفني نفسيا وأنتظر خلاله ساعات…
فتحت الصفحة الاولي وبدأت أقرأ وسط أصوات بكاء وصراخ الأطفال وتردد المراجعين المتألمين مع ذويهم المنهكين نيابة عنهم في عيادة المخ والأعصاب …وبعد مضي ٤٠ ص ارتسمت على وجهي ابتسامة كبيرة هادئة ومستسلمة للغايه وغير منزعجة بمضي اكتر من ثلاث ساعات في انتظار موافقة التأمين الصحي علي البدايه في أخذ العلاج…دخلت واستلقيت علي السرير في المستشفى وتركت ذراعي اليمنى للممرضة وانا امسك بالكتاب في ص ٨٢ بذراعي اليسري. وهاتفي ملقي الي جواري تنبعث منه موسيقى ل شوبان وباخ وبيتهوفن وموزارت من قائمة الأغاني المفضلة …لم أتوقف عن القراءة لحظه واحدة ولم أشعر بشيء غير اني أتجول في شوارع سيينا التي لم أزرها من قبل …استمتعت باللوحات و الروائح الجميلة والمختلفة…ابتعت الخضروات وصنعت الباستا الطازجة أيضاً…اختلفت مع بعض الاراء واتفقت مع الاخرى …تقاطعت ذكرياتي مع هشام مطر بالحديث عن طرابلس التي عشت بها وكانت فيها أول مدرسة تطئها قدمي…جلست علي كرسي المقبرة وبكيت أبي الذي ستحل ذكري وفاته الخامسه خلال أيام قليلة…وتمنيت من قلبي أن يحصل هشام وعائلته علي إجابة مريحة لسؤال بقي معلق لسنوات علي مشجب خلف الباب مع معطف شتوي طويل …ودعت ديانا في محطة الحافلات وتمنيت ان ألتقيها لنتحدث عن حبي لتصوير الآخرين صور يظنون هم أنها رائعة وأعتبرها عادية وعن صور أخرى تصيبني بالإحباط عندما أنظر لوجهي في محاولة منهم لرد الجميل…تمنيت أن ألتقي هشام مطر في متحف ما أمام لوحة ما لأخبره أني أعشق مدارس فنية أخرى لكني أتشارك معه في حب الصمت وأني سافرت الي هولندا فقط لأزور متحف يضم لوحات فان جوخ ومارست طقوس التأمل لساعات طويلة جدا …
لقد ساعدني هذا الكتاب في تحمل وخز الابر وذكري وفاة أبي الخامسه وألم أحمله معي من مكان إلى آخر ولا يبرح قلبي …شكراً للرفقة الطيبة.
August 9, 2021
A month in Siena - sounds like a dream to me, anywhere in Italy, actually. It’s the most beautiful country I’ve ever visited, in life, and in literature, art and the likes. Never in a book have I met Italy and not fallen in love with it all over again, and this is no exception.
This is the author’s own account of his journey to and time in Siena, wandering around but mostly looking at Sienese paintings. As we follow along, we traverse not just the city and the city limits, as our narrator is fond of those, but we map the inner avenues of his emotional, spiritual, intellectual life.
We find out, in due course, how he lost his father, kidnapped when exiled to be taken back to Gaddafi’s Libya, never to be heard of again. His sense of restlessness comes from never really knowing what happened, he’s almost like a lost soul trying to piece together his life by attaching himself to art.
This is a meditative, tenderly threaded-together book guided by an aimlessness, held together by musings on art, a passion for and the purpose of art, of place and belonging, of time, of presence and absence. There’s no meandering, no dawdling, instead there is precision - finely-tuned, intimate observations and conversation-like commentary. All an invitation into a melancholy existence of a seemingly have-it-all man. He does have a lot, but his book is about what he lost.
To look at a painting for him, as I know reading a book for me, is a foray into remembrance, of those we love or loved and lost, it is also a pursuit of recognition, to be seen and understood, and finally, and mostly, an act of hope and sustenance. 4 stars!
This is the author’s own account of his journey to and time in Siena, wandering around but mostly looking at Sienese paintings. As we follow along, we traverse not just the city and the city limits, as our narrator is fond of those, but we map the inner avenues of his emotional, spiritual, intellectual life.
We find out, in due course, how he lost his father, kidnapped when exiled to be taken back to Gaddafi’s Libya, never to be heard of again. His sense of restlessness comes from never really knowing what happened, he’s almost like a lost soul trying to piece together his life by attaching himself to art.
This is a meditative, tenderly threaded-together book guided by an aimlessness, held together by musings on art, a passion for and the purpose of art, of place and belonging, of time, of presence and absence. There’s no meandering, no dawdling, instead there is precision - finely-tuned, intimate observations and conversation-like commentary. All an invitation into a melancholy existence of a seemingly have-it-all man. He does have a lot, but his book is about what he lost.
To look at a painting for him, as I know reading a book for me, is a foray into remembrance, of those we love or loved and lost, it is also a pursuit of recognition, to be seen and understood, and finally, and mostly, an act of hope and sustenance. 4 stars!
February 11, 2021
Un tributo a Siena e alla sua arte verrebbe da dire a prima vista. Ma c'è di più..l'autore cerca e ritrova nella città quel senso di familiarità e di protezione, di distaccata compagnia di cui a bisogno. Per una volta il suo pensiero è in sintonia col tempo trascorso a mirare la città e si lascia impregnare non solo dalle sue opere ma anche dall'arte di vivere, che poi è la stessa cosa.
"It is as though the wall that encircles the city like a ribbon is as much a physical boundary as it is a spiritual veil. It is there to keep out invading armies but also to keep in and intensify Siena's sense of itself...the right to exist in accordance with one's own nature as well as the need not to lose sight of the self."
"It is as though the wall that encircles the city like a ribbon is as much a physical boundary as it is a spiritual veil. It is there to keep out invading armies but also to keep in and intensify Siena's sense of itself...the right to exist in accordance with one's own nature as well as the need not to lose sight of the self."
January 11, 2020
3.5
I listened to the audiobook read by the author. I had previously also listened to The Return (which I cannot recommend enough and would be good to read first) and I find Hisham Matar has a very pleasant, calming voice. I can imagine he is a very sensitive and thoughtful person. This little book is something between a travel account, a memoir and an essay - Penguin calls it a contemplation which covers it well. There are some beautiful observations and anecdotes in it. There are not that many descriptions of paintings actually, and when they are there they mostly serve as a way for the author to let his thoughts run.
I listened to the audiobook read by the author. I had previously also listened to The Return (which I cannot recommend enough and would be good to read first) and I find Hisham Matar has a very pleasant, calming voice. I can imagine he is a very sensitive and thoughtful person. This little book is something between a travel account, a memoir and an essay - Penguin calls it a contemplation which covers it well. There are some beautiful observations and anecdotes in it. There are not that many descriptions of paintings actually, and when they are there they mostly serve as a way for the author to let his thoughts run.
May 6, 2022
Maybe I'm biased because I read this in Italy, after visiting Siena, which is one of my favorite places in the world, but I really don't think that holds true. This novel is exceptional, as Matar parallels his life and journey of self-discovery alongside the history of Siena. In my opinion you need to visit Siena to understand some of the emotions that Matar feels, and this story is deeply rooted in his own emotions. Just top-notch story telling and sure it's not going to be as riveting as a fantasy novel etc, but Month in Siena is a top 3 book of all time for me now. Elena I love you so much for this recommendation
December 14, 2019
A most wonderful profession of love.
The painting understands this. It knows that what we wish for most, even more than paradise, is to be recognized; that regardless of how transformed and transfigured we might be by the passage, something of us might sustain and remain perceptible to those we have spent so long loving.
The painting understands this. It knows that what we wish for most, even more than paradise, is to be recognized; that regardless of how transformed and transfigured we might be by the passage, something of us might sustain and remain perceptible to those we have spent so long loving.
June 13, 2020
Embarassing. Nothing about nothing, I'll now have to run for at least an hour to get rid of the anger.
August 25, 2025
I'm in love with this book. It's warm and intimate and comforting and getting to see anything and everything through Matar's eyes is indescribable but certainly awesome
September 27, 2025
3.5 stars. A well written short reflective memoir of the author’s visit to Siena, Italy, to look at paintings. He describes 14th and 15th century paintings and explains how they remind him of other issues, such as the Black Death. He reflects on the disappearance of his father many years ago.
Here are some quotes from the book:
‘The sharp turns of passageways and the closeness of the buildings gave me the sense that I was entering a living organism’.
‘Any kind of faith, regardless of how adamant it might appear, is a space of doubt.’
‘I remember thinking…that dying now would be a waste, given how much time I had spent learning to live.’
‘Only love and art can do this: only inside a book or in front of a painting can one truly be let into another’s perspective. It has always struck me as a paradox how in the solitary arts there is something intimately communal.’
This book was first published in 2019.
Here are some quotes from the book:
‘The sharp turns of passageways and the closeness of the buildings gave me the sense that I was entering a living organism’.
‘Any kind of faith, regardless of how adamant it might appear, is a space of doubt.’
‘I remember thinking…that dying now would be a waste, given how much time I had spent learning to live.’
‘Only love and art can do this: only inside a book or in front of a painting can one truly be let into another’s perspective. It has always struck me as a paradox how in the solitary arts there is something intimately communal.’
This book was first published in 2019.
October 3, 2023
Hisham Matar writes articles and thoughts about his stay in the Italian city of Siena. These articles are wonderful, full of history, art, languages, and the relationship between them, a love letter to his father and his wife, to those he met and the paintings he saw.
May 12, 2025
Quelle belle découverte !!! L’auteur passe un mois à Sienne, à observer les tableaux de l’Ecole de Sienne. C’est l’occasion pour lui de faire une belle introspection.
J’ai adoré cette lecture et la grande passionnée d'art italien et de la beauté de l'Italie d'une façon générale que je suis, j'ai à nouveau fait un magnifique voyage à travers les mots, cette fois-ci.
J’ai adoré cette lecture et la grande passionnée d'art italien et de la beauté de l'Italie d'une façon générale que je suis, j'ai à nouveau fait un magnifique voyage à travers les mots, cette fois-ci.
May 29, 2025
Måten Siena blir beskrevet var så fortryllende at jeg måtte reise dit, og jeg er glad for å ha sett byen gjennom disse ordene.
«Siena was so varied and consistent, so small and inexhaustible, that it seemed during those days to be endless.»
«Siena was so varied and consistent, so small and inexhaustible, that it seemed during those days to be endless.»
January 17, 2025
a wonderful trip
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