Funny Boy

Growing up in a middle-class, Lankan-Tamil family from Colombo (Sri Lanka), young Arjie is made to realise that he is different - a "funny boy". That as a boy, he should prefer cricket over his "bride-bride" dress-up-game. So, this book conveys Arjie's struggle to come into terms with his own sexuality. How and whom Arjie admires is portrayed in such an organic way - it's truly refereshing. However, to deem this book "merely" as a coming-of-age novel would not do it its justice. The book is set in pre-civil-war Sri Lanka, we, as readers, are made aware of the growing ethnic-tension between Sinhalese and Tamil people. These ethnic-tensions which will eventually lead Arjie to leave the island, following the Anti-Tamil Pogrom of 1983 (Black July) - the island he once felt safe and called home. Selvadurai invites the reader into Arjie’s world. He conveys the effects of disastrous events on Arjie's family in a the language that’s simple, yet so powerful. The contrast between the beautifully written language and the devastating story it tells is so strong. In his afterword, Selvadurai says that he wants to write about "those who are swept away by it" - "it" as in history. Thus, this is not a "grant narrative", it tells the story of Arjie’s family - whose experience might be reflected by thousand of others (especially by Tamil-Lankans). Growing up in a middle-class, Lankan-Tamil family from Colombo (Sri Lanka), young Arjie is made to realise that he is different - a "funny boy". That as a boy, he should prefer cricket over his "bride-bride" dress-up-game. So, this book conveys Arjie's struggle to come into terms with his own sexuality. How and whom Arjie admires is portrayed in such an organic way - it's truly refereshing. However, to deem this book "merely" as a coming-of-age novel would not do it its justice. The book is set in pre-civil-war Sri Lanka, we, as readers, are made aware of the growing ethnic-tension between Sinhalese and Tamil people. These ethnic-tensions which will eventually lead Arjie to leave the island, following the Anti-Tamil Pogrom of 1983 (Black July) - the island he once felt safe and called home. Selvadurai invites the reader into Arjie’s world. He conveys the effects of disastrous events on Arjie's family in a the language that’s simple, yet so powerful. The contrast between the beautifully written language and the devastating story it tells is so strong. In his afterword, Selvadurai says that he wants to write about "those who are swept away by it" - "it" as in history. Thus, this is not a "grant narrative", it tells the story of Arjie’s family - whose experience might be reflected by thousand of others (especially by Tamil-Lankans).