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Product Description
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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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbingly Interesting,
By "foxyy50" (Ont, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Funny Boy (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.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gay coming-of-age a natural,
By Kevin G. Barnhurst (Stoddard, NH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Funny Boy (Harvest Book) (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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful book!,
By JGarpo@aol.com (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Funny Boy (Harvest Book) (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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