Funny Boy - Softcover

Selvadurai, Shyam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140250042 ISBN 13: 9780140250046

Publisher: Penguin India, 1994

Synopsis

Arjie is a 'funny boy' who prefers dressing as a girl. This novel follows the life of his family through Arjie's eyes as he struggles to come to terms both with his own homosexuality and with the racism of the society in which he lives. In the north of Sri Lanka there's a war going on between the army and the Tamil Tigers, and gradually it begins to encroach on the family's comfortable life. Sporadic acts of violence flare into full-scale riots and lead, ultimately, to tragedy.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

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.

From the Back Cover:

This dazzling debut novel portrays a Tamil boy's bittersweet discovery of his own homosexuality and the intricate, shaded world of adults. Set in Sri Lanka, the story of Arjie's complex coming of age takes place amid the political turmoil that led to the 1983 Colombo riots.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin India
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0140250042
• ISBN 13: 9780140250046
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 316