A memoir of imprisonment and life after release
Abdelrahman ElGendy was 17 when he was detained in Egypt in October 2013 after being near a protest. He spent six years in prison, including periods held alongside his father. His memoir, Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming, follows the experience of detention and the difficulty of returning to ordinary life.
The review focuses on how prison conditions can continue to shape a person after release. ElGendy’s account describes the lingering anxiety of surveillance and the sense that freedom remains uncertain. Everyday events can trigger fears of being detained again.
The book also explores how political repression affects speech, family ties and the ways people cope. Writing, friendship and tenderness become forms of survival, while the memoir considers how state power reaches beyond prison walls.
