The Dictator's Last Night Paperback – October 13, 2015

Khadra possesses not only the prose to strike the core of your heart but he also owns the deep otherworldly wisdom it requires to empathize with both brutality and narcissism. What makes a hero? What makes a madman? Does murdering our enemies ruthlessly in the name of our country make us terrorists or guardians? A question many nations on today’s global stage should be asking themselves. “Whom who has held authority of any kind is without blood on their hands?”

Since you know how the story is going to end, it's all about the trip, and It's a heck of a trip inside the mind of an absolute dictator whose brain has been addled by years of absolute power and adulation from an army of toadies. I think it's brilliant and recommend it for anyone interested at a peak inside the brain of one of history's stranger tin pot dictators

Interesting premise but not up to the excitement of his previous books.

Another amazing book by Khadra. In less than 200 pages he allows the reader into the mind of the infamous Muammar Gaddafi in the last hours of his life. Gaddafi has fled from Tripoli and is in Sirte. A man who probably thought of himself as the twelfth Imam - the tribal prophet on a sacred mission in life is reduced to accepting ( albeit unwillingly ) the fallacy of his supposed messanic role in history.A must read. Definitely 5 stars worth.

Very interesting, well written GREAT book. Can not recommend it enough. One of the better books I have read in a long time. It is almost like it was written by the Dictator himself. Strongly recommend.

“No one celebrates the wind. Wherever it shows itself, all it does is pass by. What it takes with it is of little importance, and what it leaves behind will be erased by time.”-Saddam Hussein in Gaddafi’s dreamIn this imaginative tale, Khadra creates what it might have been like for the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s last night hiding in the desert of Sirte, Libya. The story begins in a run-down, abandoned house in the middle of the dusty wilderness, where Gaddafi is hiding from the rebels of the National Transitional Council (NTC) in the midst of the Libyan civil war. His people have turned against him and NATO is helping the NTC fight for power, which means his faction is dwindling and losing.Gaddafi was born a poor, fatherless Bedouin in Libya. He’s extremely self-conscious about being a “bastard”, but compensates through arrogance and superciliousness. He is most proud of overthrowing King Idris and coming to power as Libya’s Chairman of the RCC (Revolutionary Command Council) and creating a republic by dissolving the monarchy.Throughout the novel, he is constantly plagued with dreams of Vincent Van Gogh, warning him through premonitions; he is obsessed with learning why Van Gogh is prevalent in his visions. Khadra portrays Gaddafi as vengeful, a trait he undoubtedly possessed. The story regularly changes from Gaddafi’s past to his present in October 2011, revealing the scores he settled along the way with people who mistreated him, even making some dig their own graves. He haughtily compared himself to “Isa Ibn Maryam”, (Jesus Christ in the Koran), and the prophet Muhammad, in that they all hadn’t known their fathers; in the same turn he bashed Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden for getting captured, not knowing he’d meet the same fate–hiding in a hollow hole in the desert. Khadra’s ability to inventively re-create a night that only Muammar Gaddafi and his faithful men experienced was well perceived, and a little graphic toward the end.ABOUT THE AUTHORYasmina Khadra is the pen name for Algerian author Mohammed Moulessehoul, and a best-selling author of works such as: The Swallows of Kabul, The Attack and The Sirens of Baghdad. He was given the 2011 Grand Prix de Littérature Henri Gal by the Académie Française.**** 4 StarsThe Dictator’s Last Nightby Yasmina Khadra112 PagesSet to publish October 13, 2015 by Gallic BooksISBN-13: 9781910477137*Disclaimer: This eBook was received from NetGalley for an honest review.

Love it!

This book by the marvelous Algerian writer, who writes under the pseudonym of Yasmina Khara, has written this story of the last day in the life of Muamar Gaddaffi. This short book (or novella), is written in the first person with Gaddaffi as the narrator. What does a man who knows he will not see another day think of in his last hours.What does a man think of?? His accomplishment?? His missed opportunities?? His mistakes (if he made any)?? Or does his life flash before him??These are the questions that Khadra tries to answer. From the time of his childhood, Gaddaffi knew that he was destined for greatness. He was a willful fatherless child who brought nothing but pain and misery to his mother. Mostly he wanted to know the true story of his father (which he was not to learn for years).He talks about his time in military training and the friends he made (who later helped him lead the coup d’etat that overthrew the King). He talks about his children and his family, his hatred for how he was treated by his tribe when he was growing up, even though they had paid for his education. More than anything he talks about what he had done for Libya and how he had made his country respected all over the Moslem world.It’s the ravings of a psychotic drug addict. I wonder if it was true that at the end of his life, Gaddaffi like Hitler had become a drug addict? Is it true or is Khadra giving in to rumor and innuendo? The end is Gaddaffi thoughts as he is dragged out of a water drain, beaten and eventually shot dead.Is it true that all Dictators and psychotic, narcissists who cannot see when they have overstepped? Well, ask Saddam Hussein or any of the other “leaders” overthrown during the Arab Spring.Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com [email protected]