A blazingly propulsive novel from the prize-winning author of In Our Mad and Furious City, following a captured jihadist and poet-preacher as he recounts his path to international notoriety
Who is Yahya Bas? Revolutionary poet, notorious jihadist, misbegotten son, self-styled idiot-boy . When the enigmatic Yahya finds himself languishing in a detention center after fleeing the conflict in Syria, he has many questions to face.
What was he doing in the desert? Why did he betray his home country? What led him to write the incendiary verses that launched him into international infamy? Mister, his interrogator, wants answers. So Yahya  resolves to tell his own story, in his own words, and on his own terms.
Mister, Mister is what follows: a coming-of-age story of radical self-invention, a quest for a long-lost father, and a discovery of another way to live in the shadow of war. Brash, biting, yet ultimately tender and bracingly imaginative, Mister, Mister follows a child of the tumultuous 90s and the ravaged aughts as he becomes the unwitting voice of a generation.
Who is Yahya Bas? An anti-hero for our modern era, in which we've just begun to survey the wreckage of the West's forever-wars.

Gunaratne , Guy

Penguin Random House Distribution

Random House, Incorporated

Penguin Random House LLC

Pantheon Books

Vintage

United States, United States of America

First American edition, New York, 2023

"Who is Yahya Bas? Revolutionary poet, notorious jihadist, misbegotten son, self-styled idiot-boy. When the enigmatic Yahya finds himself languishing in a UK detention center after fleeing the conflict in Syria, he has many questions to face. What was he doing in the desert? Why did he betray his country? What led him to to write the incendiary verses that launched him to international infamy? Mister, his interrogator, wants answers. So Yahya resolves to tell his own story, in his own words, and on his own terms. Following a child of the tumultuous 90s who becomes the unwitting voice of a generation, Mister, Mister is many stories at once: the invention of an identity, the quest for a long-lost father, and the discovery of another way to live in the shadow of war."-- Provided by publisher

2023-10-03