Funny Boy
Shyam Selvadurai
1994
Penguin
pp. 316
Funny Boy is the story of a young boy who comes to terms with his personal and social context as he matures into adolescence. The novels revolves around his childhood and adolescence in Sri Lanka. Set in the context of civil war during the 1980s, the story revolves around a young boy, Arjie’s family struggling to coax his son out of his sexuality. More than the family, the portrayal of Arjie discovering and accepting his emotions and passions in life, is more beautiful. The painful moments of his struggling with many emotions. It is a grim reminder of the distance between parents and children, and even siblings, in many families. Much of Arjie’s time is spent with himself with no one to discuss his experiences, thoughts and feelings with.
The parallel narrative about the conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils is equally pertinent. In fact, for a large part of the reading, I was wondering whether the title of the book is apt since the narrative largely revolved around the conflict. The last ten pages of the book holds vivid descriptions of the impact of the riots on the people of Sri Lanka. Of course, somewhere in the discourse would be another perspective that hasn’t been touched about in this book. But, the description of the physical and psychological violence, in the voice of a young boy experiencing it first hand, is very moving. And just for this, I would urge everyone to read it.
P.S. The book cover is really beautiful.