ANATOMY OF A DISAPEARANCE BY Hisham Matar

Although an easy book to read and simply told, that only seems to emphasise the poignancy of the story. It is the story of Nuri whose mother dies when he is 10, leaving him with his mysterious and distant father. On holiday 2 years later they meet Mona, a young woman who captures the hearts of both Nuri and his father - the rivalry between them for this woman's heart, albeit that Nuri is only a boy, strikes a tender cord with the reader, a sympathy that deepens when he is sent to school in England; he is besotted with Mona. After his father's disapearance Nuri and Mona find brief solace in each other whilst they try to find the truth of what has happened but the truth is always elusive and his father's background so secretive that it is only many years later that Nuri finds some semblance of closure. It's written with deep feeling and though we never really unravel the mystery that is Nuri's father or of his disappearance we are aware throughout the story that there is a whole tangle of subterfuge going on in Nuri's life - some things touched upon may be more obvious to the reader than some; throughout there is an almost dreamlike quality to events, a sense that there is something just out of Nuri and our reach, but we are taken along with Nuri's story, the words evoke a sense of wanting to get to the bottom of things aswell as a very real affinity with this boy. It's down to each individual reader to decide whether we are left in a good place, with hope, or in a sad place where we know hope is futile, but whatever we decide we have been on that journey with Nuri, known his loves and dreams and fears. As I said, very simply told but with a huge impact. Read and reviewed through book group. Thanks to Penguin books.