Sattouf, Riad. The Arab of the Future, Vol 2: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1984-1985. 2015. 154p. ISBN 978-1-62779-351-3.
Back in Syria following his summer in France at the end of The Arab of the Future, Vol 1, Riad begins school in his village. The school functions as a large social darwinist organization where only the strong survive. Students are beaten for talking, shunned if they can't afford clothes or are not clean. Relations between students are even worse, and with his angelic blond hair and his inability to read Arabic, Riad is a perfect target for others.
Life under the Syrian dictatorship is difficult. In theory people are not allowed generators, they can't purchase goods, and everyone is a step away from being arrested. Riad's father purchases several items on the black market, to increase his wife's material comfort after she bitterly complains. Riad is joined by a younger brother, while his dad attempts to join the regime's elite but is not very successful.
When one of father's female cousins is killed in what is termed an honor killing, Riad's mother begins questioning why they stay in this barbaric country...
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