Funny Boy

Summary

In this remarkable debut novel, a boy’s bittersweet passage to maturity and sexual awakening is set against escalating political tensions in Sri Lanka, during the seven years leading up to the 1983 riots.  Arjie Chelvaratnam is a Tamil boy growing up in an extended family in Colombo. It is through his eyes that the story unfolds and we meet a delightful, sometimes eccentric cast of characters. Arjie’s journey from the luminous simplicity of childhood days into the more intricately shaded world of adults - with its secrets, its injustices, and its capacity for violence - is a memorable one, as time and time again the true longings of the human heart are held against the way things are.  “A powerful and beautifully written novel....” (Literary Review (UK))

©2013 Shyam Selvadurai (P)2019 McClelland & Stewart