لينا’s Reviews > My Friends > Status Update

"I remember thinking, it is possible to just walk away: one could actually do that, it is an option."

"I had my own words, blades packed in the mouth, capable of cutting my tongue wide open. I feared speaking them and feared not speaking them, and I knew that, like all things of consequence, they could not be postponed or stored away for later use. If I missed my opportunity now, I thought, I would have to carry those words unspoken forever. Sounds in the dark."

I like Hisham Matar’s way of writing, though I find it difficult to describe exactly why. His metaphors are beautiful without being complicated; they are vivid yet simple. His writing is deeply sensory, making emotions and memories feel tangible.

Reading him gives me the sense that he carries an entire world inside himself and is patiently placing it on the page. There is an intimacy to his prose, as if he is speaki