Customer Reviews

Funny Boy (Between the Covers Collection)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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. Unfortunately, when it comes to this novel, people seemd to content to only classify it as gay fiction, and that is where I found it in my local ..., in the gay fiction section. This is such a tragedy to me as this novel is about so much more. In fact, the homosexuality is only a small (albeit important) part of one of the most entertaining and well written "bildungsromans" that I have read in a long while. Selvadurai deftly describes his childhood within a well to do Sri Lankan family, and the devastation that the political upheavals (between the Sinhalese and the Tamils) made on his life. This book describes the horrors visited upon his family (the fate of the grandparents is too horrible to even try and contemplate)while the narrator comes to consciousness in many ways.

I went from being heartily amused in the first chapter about children playing (so, so funny,..and so relatable to anybody who was ever terrorized by a tyrannical fat cousin)to being deeply saddened by the end of the novel, when Sri Lanka is no longer his idyllic home, but rather a place of danger that he and his family must escape. I do not hesitate in giving this novel five stars (despite the fact that it is very episodic) because it is so well written. Selvadurai is a huge talent, and I have Cinnamon Gardens waiting to be read at home.

I urge everybody to read this book, even if you aren't comfortable enough going to the previously unexplored "gay fiction" section. Books like this are an increasingly rare breed, so we may as well search thenm out while we can.

Life as seen through a young boy's eyes, Funny Boy, is narrated with an honesty that brings laughs and alternatively, immense sadness. Arjie, the protagonist in the story, captures the dilemma of growing up, and the struggle at times, to make meaning of the apparent contradictions in life as he comes to terms with understanding the issues of ethnic and sexual identity. Through him we re-discover our own journey through the vicissitudes of life and empathize with the innocence that once surrounded us all before accepting the harsh realities and cruelties of life. Shyam Selvadurai weaves his story through a backdrop of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and a colorful range of characters - the gossipy aunts, the pecking order of cousins, the kindly grand-parents, the strict school principal, and the faceless mob - all of who evoke a range of emotions -smiles, annoyance, warmth and fear - as we nostalgically reminisce about these characters and situations from our own childhood. This is a well written and poignant book. I can't wait to get hold of the author's other book (Cinnamon Gardens).

I had the honor of going to see Mr. Selvadurai read when he came to my city. I even asked him, "What are the best aspects of being a writer?" He (jokingly, I think) said that it was the working at home part :)

He was a truly entertaining, funny, and delightful man. He put so much expression into his voice when he read from Funny Boy.

Well, I just finished Funny Boy yesterday, and I must say that it was a very refreshing read! I loved all the descriptions of Ammachi and Appachi's house, and all the wonderful, vivid descriptions of Sri Lanka. It really brought me into another world, and I loved it.

Shyam writes simply and beautifully; his writing is not at all confounding and is very accessible. I found I breezed through the book. It was also very compelling.

Arjie's coming-of-age in Funny Boy is one that everyone must read about. His emotions are rare, powerful, and they stick with you. The other characters in the book are also interesting. I especially liked the story about Arjie and Shehan. Another story I liked was one of the first ones - when they played bride-bride, and how they called his cousin, "Her Fatness." I laughed hysterically.

Shyam is an author to look out for. I am looking forward to reading his oher works. He has a talent for writing beautifully and searingly - yet, he never fails to inject a little humour/comic relief to lighten up the mood.

I absolutely loved Funny Boy and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. Kudos to Mr. Selvadurai!

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. And like "The God of Small Things," this is a wonderful debut for Selvadurai.

As a gay man of Indian origin, I found myself relating completely to the main character, Arjie. Selvadurai's prose is poetic and precisely conveys the awkardness and roller-coaster nature of a gay child growing up in a tradition-based family. Add to the mix the portrayal of Sri Lanka's devastating political turmoil, and you get a history lesson and a coming-of-age story at the same time.

Although some of the plot seems incredible and out of place, "Funny Boy" is a quick, delightful read.

What I loved best about Funny Boy was the first story, Pig's Can't Fly. The author captures the voice of the seven year old Sri Lankan protagonist, vividly, for the adult, mostly western audience. The character Arjie, is well developed for the story, and as a reader I could "feel" his emotions, his fears, his gradual grasp of the adult world. I wouldn't classify the novel as solely gay literature, just as I wouldn't classify Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes as "straight" literature. Although part of it deals with the character coming out of the closet, the novel is also about the innocence of childhood, and society's expectations of how one should grow up.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the rest of the stories, and found the last one about the riots frightening. If Michael Ondaatje described the inhumanity of the Sri Lankan ethnic war well in Anil's Ghost, Selvadurai definitely captures the fear and shocking emotions that follow it. And so abruptly, cruelly, Arjie is stripped off his childhood and homeland, by a society that could not practice tolerance and humanity.

Story refreshed my childhood memories of the sad incident of 1983 Sri Lanka.Though I did not see any of those nasty things happening still I can remember the destroied and burnt down houses. As a child of 11 I could not understand the real reson behind that.But I was very sentitive and cried for days.
After few years when I knew what was actually happend in 83',I become more sadder. I cried again with Argie when he cried inside his burnt house before leaving Sri Lanka. What I was really wept for is the human resource we, Sri Lanka, lost from the deaths and migration.
We lost the service, and friendship of so many Arjies.
We are sorry Arjie and we missed you a lot.

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!

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. All these themes seem to be dear to many authors. But Mr.Selvadurai deals with the coming-of-age of a Sri Lanka boy with a great share of poetry. Terrible political events capsize the boy's life; he and his family are eventually compelled to emigrate to Canada, a curtain drops, the boy's life will never be the same, but, in spite of everything, he wiil be happy again. This seems to be the message of the author. An engrossing story which becomes your own story.Beautifully written and touching, a highily recommendable book that you will never forget.

A touching coming of age novel written by a sensitive Sri Lankan now living in Canada. The ability to describe in splendid detail events from one's childhood is
always amazing, and adds credibility to this story. Truly a "funny boy" the protagonist is torn between his own misplaced desire to play with his female relatives
and his fondness for a male classmate. The ethnic conflict that is visible in family business, local underground activist movements and even in the fact that the protagonist's own parents are from the opposite sides of the
conflict add a note of realism that is so distant and foreign to most western readers. To have lost the innocence of one's childhood and entered the forbidden realm of the "funny" (viz gay), to have lost one's schoolmates, the family home
to arsonists and finally to have been forced to flee the country, all of these are major events in a young life that is nevertheless depicted by the author as dreamy, romantic and still "fun".

This book has both passion and humor. It stays with you long after you have finished reading Shyam Selvadurai's poignant and humorous novel "Funny Boy." The novel is set around the outbreak of the Sri Lankan Civil War. It is told through the eyes of a young Tamil boy who encounters the stigma of his growing homosexuality and the increasing violence that his family faces from the Sinhalese. The fault-lines in relations between the Tamils and the Sinhalese are explored through of the romantic vignettes in the novel. But the brutal reality of Sinhalese violence, and its impact on Tamil families, is never far from the surface. The protagonists favorite aunt is attacked on a train by two drunk Sinhalese and there is a reference to the murder of some elderly relatives in an earlier riot. All these stories will ring true for the vast Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. The writer conveys the sense of helpless fear that gripped many Tamils families as they prepared to flee Sri Lanka. July 1983 was a watershed event in Tamil history and "Funny Boy" is one of the first mainstream novels to emerge from the people who suffered through the violence of that time. Shyam Selvadurai is a rare talent as a novelist. He confirmed that with his follow-up novel "The Cinnamon Gardens."