In the third installment of the acclaimed series the Sattouf family begins to implode under
the pressure of Hafez al-Assad's regime and the suffocation of their rural Syrian village.The
Arab of the Future is the widely acclaimed internationally bestselling graphic memoir that
tells the story of Riad Sattouf's peripatetic childhood in the Middle East. In the first volume
which covers the years 1978-1984 his family moves between rural France Libya and Syria
where they eventually settle in his father's native village of Ter Maaleh near Homs. The
second volume recounts young Riad's first year attending school in Syria (1984-1985) where he
dedicates himself to becoming a true Syrian in the country of Hafez al-Assad. In this third
volume (1985-1987) Riad's mother fed up with the grinding reality of daily life in the
village decides she cannot take it any longer. When she resolves to move back to France young
Riad sees his father torn between his wife's aspirations and the weight of family traditions.
