Beggar's Feast - Softcover

Boyagoda, Randy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143050915 ISBN 13: 9780143050919

Publisher: Penguin Canada, 2012

Synopsis

Beggar's Feast is a novel about a man who lives in defiance of fate. Sam Kandy was born in 1889 to low prospects in a Ceylon village and died one hundred years later as the wealthy headman of the same village, a self-made shipping magnate, and father of sixteen, three times married and twice widowed. In four parts, this enthralling novel tells Sam's story from his boyhood—when his parents, convinced by his horoscope that he would be a blight upon the family, abandon him at the gates of a distant temple—through his dramatic escape from the temple and journey across Ceylon to Australia and Singapore, before his bold return to the Ceylon village he once called home. There he tries to win recognition for his success in the world—at any cost.

About this title

About the Author

Randy Boyagoda has written for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Paris Review and Harper's Magazine. His second novel, Beggar's Feast, was nominated for the 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize and was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Born to Sri Lankan parents, he lives in Toronto with his wife and four daughters.

Review

A brilliant book -- Nadeem Aslam A satirical feast The Globe and Mail Ambitious ... a narrative that spans the whole of the last century Financial Times The story of a Ceylonese Odysseus ... gleaming, ambitious New York Times Beggar's Feast tackles the grand questions of the 20th century - reinvention, power, sacrifice - but what lies at the heart of this sweeping novel is a more intimate concern: how to find peace in an unforgiving world. In Sam Kandy, Randy Boyagoda has created a truly memorable character --Tash Aw

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Canada
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0143050915
• ISBN 13: 9780143050919
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336