Les Désorientés, Amine Maalouf

"In The Disoriented, I am very much inspired by my own youth. I spent it with friends who believed in a better world. And even though none of the characters in this book correspond to a real person, none is entirely imaginary. I drew on my dreams, my fantasies, my remorse, as much as my memories. The protagonists of the novel had been inseparable in their youth, then they had dispersed, scrambled, lost sight of. They meet on the occasion of the death of one of them. Some have never wanted to leave their native country, others have emigrated to the United States, Brazil or France. And the paths they followed led them in the most diverse directions. What do the libertine hoteliers, the entrepreneur who made their fortune, or the monk who has left the world to devote himself to meditation have in common? Some shared reminiscences, and an incurable nostalgia for the world before. "
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