He was one
of the last great dictators in northern Africa: Muammar Gaddafi. His last hours
are portrayed by one of the authors who know the region best: Yasmina Khadra. Hidden
in a school, longing for his beloved son and reflecting about what he has
achieved and made of his home country, Khadra depicts how Libya’s tyrant might
have spent those very last moments of his life. Looking back at his childhood,
where he as a boy without father was often teased, his time in the army, and
the revolution which put him in the highest position. The underdog who achieved
everything and dies god-alike, misunderstood by his followers, his country, the
world.
From the
ruler’s point of view we look at what we know from the news. His psychological
state – far from any normal assessment of the situation – is described in a
lively and very interesting way. Khadra creates a character who is fully
absorbed in his view of himself and the world, who outlines his motivations to
rise to the top and sketches his idea of a perfect ruler. His hubris can be
felt in every line and one tends to believe, that this fictional picture of
Gaddafi comes quite close to the real person.
Once more
Khadra gives the western world inside into the Arabian ways of thinking and countries
so close and yet so far away.
