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Quill & Quire
Here we go: another Canadian novel about the immigrant experience – set in present-day Toronto, but with Toronto meant to stand for Canada as a whole. In the hands of Rabindranath Maharaj, we are led through familiar, well-worn terrain: feelings of alienation and an ache for community in this cold country, this smug metropolis.
Nine months after the death of his mother, Maharaj’s protagonist, Samuel, moves to Toronto from his native Trinidad to live with his estranged father. The gimmick is that 17-year-old Sam sees everything through the prism of comic books: he makes countless references to the X-Men and the Silver Surfer as he drifts through his days. This is curious, since we’re about two-thirds of the way through the book before we see Sam actually look at a comic. And he doesn’t betray any of the genuine obsessions of a hardcore reader – the giddy anticipation for the next big issue, the collector’s meticulousness, the nerd’s esoteric fixations. Instead, Sam’s comic-book references feel tacked on. For the most part, he merely leads us around the city, meeting people who spend their days ruminating on – you guessed it – being an immigrant in Toronto.
But the biggest problem with this novel is that it’s too episodic and never gains any real narrative traction. Too often, Maharaj will introduce potentially interesting characters then drop them – more than once with the character making a seemingly innocuous exit, only to have Sam say, “But I never saw [that person] again.” At one point, Sam’s aunt visits from Trinidad. A religious nut, she’s fascinating, yet her visit is of no real consequence, and then she just leaves.
Despite these weaknesses, there are some good payoffs here. In one scene, Sam allows his father, who spends his nights watching MacGyver, to read a school essay he’s written about his mother’s illness and his father’s departure from Trinidad. Maharaj perfectly captures a child’s emotional state when a disapproving parent reads something he’s written – wondering which section he’s on now, wondering what his reaction will be when he finishes. It’s a gut-wrenching scene.
Line for line, Maharaj is a superb stylist, but on the whole this book lacks evidence of planning or a strong vision.
Review
“Maharaj is a sensitive observer who renders the familiar new and strange in this bittersweet tale of an everyday hero navigating a new land.”
— Camilla Gibb
“An immigrant’s tale unlike any we've been told, The Amazing Absorbing Boy walks our streets with fresh eyes, taking us to places we’ve been many times and show us what we’ve missed. This is a book Canadians have been waiting a long time to read.”
— Steven Galloway
“The Amazing Absorbing Boy is an amazing, absorbing read, one that opens a door on a strange new world called Canada. In prose that is filled with wonder and gentle humour, Maharaj ushers us through this culture from the perspective of one who has just landed in this cold, liberating, frightening and heavenly country, which is made of many countries, this place we all call home. To read Maharaj’s novel is to laugh at ourselves, to wonder at ourselves, and most importantly, to understand ourselves. If you haven’t yet discovered Rabindranath Maharaj, discover him with this novel.”
— Gail Anderson-Dargatz
“Robin Maharaj’s novel, The Amazing Absorbing Boy, is a funny/tender book, to my knowledge an entirely new way of surveying the urban landscape and finding not just the unguessed at, unvisited parts of Toronto but of the Modern City. Highly original in its premise, it is in part an homage and in part a spoof of the sub-genre of super hero comic books — a highly intelligent, roaringly funny homage. Put aside the sombre ‘I must read this book because it might be a form-of self-betterment’ notion that’s been drilled into you about CanLit. Be amazed. Be absorbed. Have fun. It won’t hurt a bit.”
— Wayne Johnston
“Maharaj . . . offers an exhilarating interpretation of immigrant experience. . . . Maharaj superbly articulates the longing for home, on the one hand, and the dream of success in Canada on the other.”
— The Globe and Mail
“Think you know Toronto? Then try getting another perspective. You won’t find a fresher one than in The Amazing Absorbing Boy. . . . Highly recommended.”
— NOW (Toronto)
“Maharaj’s comic-tinged fantasy serves as a particularly apt metaphor for aspects of the modern immigrant experience. . . . Maharaj expertly captures the varied carols of [Toronto’s] urban multiculture.”
— The Walrus
“The language has a charming, natural ease. . . . But it is also a novel with deeper layers. At heart it is a rich exploration of the immigrant psychodrama of attraction and repulsion, welcome and paranoia, perception and misunderstanding.”
— Toronto Star
“Line for line, Maharaj is a superb stylist.”
— Quill & Quire
Praise for Rabindranath Maharaj:
“For the record, [Maharaj] is a more accomplished writer than Vassanji and a livelier novelist than Mistry.”
— Philip Marchand, Toronto Star
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
an easy read,
By Shane McDoughy (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Amazing Absorbing Boy (Hardcover)
The book is an easy read and I liked how it flows. I could not put it down and the author has a sensitive way of observing and communicating his observations. An easy read in a dual sense as well since the book does not touch on many of the issues immigrants face when arriving in Canada. The boy is a pretty naive guy from a third world country who does not have anything to lose and is therefore happy to have a lot of chances he would not have in his native country.It is suitable for Canadians, too, because it does not criticize Canada's flawed immigration system which exploits skilled workers as cheap, highly educated labour and blocks them at every opportunity from moving up and taking the positions they were educated to fill and would serve the country most.
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