I really enjoyed the exploration of different cultures/religions/environments from the point of view of a child, but filtered through adult eyes. Then I tried to make comics for people who don’t read comics, with my first dream reader being my grandmother, who wasn’t really into comics. My lawyer took my savings, but my doctor said I have to give up smoked salmon, so I’ll be saving money! This book is the start of a graphic novel that has filled the void I had ever since I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude. No one is spared from his keen dissection of their quirks and failings, including Sattouf himself who reveals his deepest anxieties and deprecates his many strengths.

Every volume of this autobiographical bande dessinée has been a bestseller in France and translated into over 20 languages. Translated into 22 languages, the albums have been awarded multiple prizes, including the Grand prix RTL for graphic novels in 2014, the Fauve d’or (Best Album Prize) at the 2015 international festival of graphic novels in Angoulême and the Los Angeles Times Graphic Novel Prize in 2016.

While L’Arab du Futur paints a harsh picture of life in Syria and Libya, it also reveals universal aspects of human existence: the controlling influences of loving parents, the emancipating admiration of grandparents, the fear of facing the first day in a new school, cousins and siblings that are both rivals and fierce defenders, adolescent concerns about attractiveness and sexuality, the desire to be accepted by others, … the list goes on.

His turn came, and he told me where he was from… from Homs, that he had to leave because of the war! Despite his father’s determination to integrate his son into Arab society, little Sattouf—with his long blonde hair—never fully fits in, and this report reads like the curious pondering of an alien from another world. The most ambitious and most accomplished work by Riad Sattouf, The Arab of the Future is long-awaited by the press and the public. These opening autoportraits underpin the events that will follow as told through the eyes of the child who experienced them.Despite his very young age, Riad observes the propaganda of the Gaddafi regime and frequent food scarcity and rationing. Bon, on perçoit toujours l'ego démesuré de l'auteur hein, mais il a l'air d'en avoir conscience, c'est un début. At club we talked a lot about the responsibility of the artist: whether a member of a marginalized group is required to consider and/or represent the entire vast spectrum of that group in his or her creative work, and what the consequences can be if he or she does not.