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.
Funny Boy
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From Publishers Weekly
Set in Sri Lanka, this poignant coming-of-age novel charts a boy's loss of innocence as he grapples with family conflict, political realities and his homosexuality. At seven, narrator Arjun Chelvaratnam hates sports and enjoys wearing his aunt's jewelry and playing the role of bride in imaginary weddings; yet his playmates' taunts of "girlie-boy" and "faggot" don't seem all that different from the monickers that attach to other children (e.g., "fatty-boom-boom" and "Diggy-Nose"). But when Arjun enters his teens, his worried father, a wealthy hotelier, sends him to a strict private academy, hoping it will force his son "to become a man." Instead, Arjun, rebelling against a sadistic principal, strikes up an intense friendship with a fellow renegade pupil, Shehan, who is rumored to be gay. After their first sexual encounter. Arjun's immediate feelings are anger and guilt, but he gradually comes to accept his sexuality and his love for Shehan. The story is shot through with the tensions and bloody violence between Sri Lanka's Buddhist Sinhalese majority and its Hindu Tamil minority. In loving Shehan, a Sinhalese, Arjun, who is Tamil, breaks two taboos. Retribution follows, and in 1983 Arjun and his family migrate to Canada as penniless refugees. With deft humor and a keen eye, Selvadurai, who was born in Sri Lanka and now lives in Toronto, captures his protagonist's difficult passage into his own identity-of which his homosexuality is just one component. And it is with deep, wistful feeling that he ties that story to larger themes of family and country. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Although this falls into the crowded coming-of-age category, Selvadurai adds the foreign, funny, and unusual in a novel that is as personal as it is political. While growing up in Sri Lanka amid Tamil and Sinhalese conflicts, Arjie, a young boy who likes to play with dolls and girls, observes the social constraints abhorred and perpetuated within his own family and in society at large. Through the details of family life, the intimacies and exchanges, Selvadurai, much like E. M. Forster, reveals truths subtly, with poignancy and grace. Selvadurai has created an endearing character in Arjie, an impish boy who is always in trouble with his rigid parents, yet gains the confidence of "outsiders," those attempting to rebel against foolish social injustices: an aunt almost ready to reject family and social pressure by marrying a Sinhalese man; a schoolboy who is sexually abused by the head prefect and who wants to disclose his own homosexuality. Arjie's witnessing of prejudice and violence shatters his security by degrees, awakening him to the acceptance of his own gay identity and his isolation from both his family and conventional society. Janet St. John
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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By "foxyy50"
Format:Paperback
This novel was beautifully written, and you can feel that the author has poured his heart out when writing this novel. The scenes in this novel sticks with you for a long time, the injustices that is dealt in our world.
Format:Paperback
Funny Boy tells a universal story -- of boys who discover their sexual difference -- with clarity and simplicity. The gay aspect of the main character's life is treated as it should be: as a matter of fact. It is no more surprising than any sexual awakening should be, and its normalcy is clarified by contrast to the shocking racism and violence between the Sinhalese and Tamils. That background makes the concluding story of first love especially poignant.
Format:Paperback
Touching, inspirational, moving, funny, heartwarming, uplifting, sad, heartbreaking. Not many books can convey such a wide range of emotions so effectively. It's the story of an immensely likable young boy growing up in Sri Lanka in turbulent times trying to understand himself and make sense of his crazy world. He struggles to understand the unspoken "rules" and learn how to succeed and find happiness within the restrictions placed upon him. This book is beautifully written with six chapters, each representing a separate passage of time. (I found this to be very effective, although it did leave me with questions!) The setting is beautiful, the characters convincing and the dialogue is believable. You will root for Arjie! I found the following passage from page 267 particularly insightful and relevant given the current political climate, "How was it that some people got to decide what was correct or not, just or unjust? It had to do with who was in charge; everything had to do with who held power and who didn't." I strongly recommend this book. (I would definitely purchase a sequel should there be one, and I plan on reading Selvadurai's next book "Cinnamon Gardens".) You won't want to or be able to put this book down!
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4.3 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Funny Boy By Shyam Selvadurai
Ive only read half the book so far in my 9/10 literature class at Bayswater Secondary College, Australia. Read more
Published on Aug 22 2001 by bayswater lit class
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not just a coming-of age novel
Another reviewer has pointed out that although this book usually appears in the Gay category, in fact the gay sections are a relatively minor part of the novel. Read more
Published on April 24 2001 by MR G. Rodgers
5.0 out of 5 stars
So much more than it's classification
I am a librarian (at least i think I am, I have the degree but am working here at a dotcom). Anyhow, classifying and cataloguing is a big part of what we do. Read more
Published on Nov 16 2000 by Edward Aycock
4.0 out of 5 stars
a boy's life
The boy's awakening to sexuality, the hostility of his family towards his"being funny", the shock of his first sexual experience with a school friend. Read more
Published on Oct 21 2000 by mario montigiani
3.0 out of 5 stars
Episodic and choppy
Advertised as a book abour growing up gay in South Asia, Funny Boy actually says very little about being gay. Read more
Published on April 24 2000 by John Rice
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Compelling, Moving Tale
This novel, very much like Roy's "The God of Small Things," looks at life in South Asia and it political climate through a child's eyes. Read more
Published on Mar 6 2000 by Sunil
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent debut!
Life as seen through a young boy's eyes, Funny Boy, is narrated with an honesty that brings laughs and alternatively, immense sadness. Read more
Published on Dec 7 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent debut!
Life as seen through a young boy's eyes, Funny Boy, is narrated with an honesty that brings laughs and alternatively, immense sadness. Read more
Published on Dec 6 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
I urge you to read this book
This is one of the best books I've read in the past decade. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Although it is sometimes described as a growing-up-gay kind of novel, it's... Read more
Published on Dec 6 1999 by Michael Melcher
5.0 out of 5 stars
a great novel
The most striking thing about this book is how the author could bring out Arjie's childhood experiences in such a charming and interesting manner. Read more
Published on Dec 2 1999
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