Reef: A Novel First edition

Gunesekera, Romesh

ISBN 10: 0140142177 / ISBN 13: 9780140142174

Published by Granta Books, London, 1994

First edition. Hardback. 190pp. Black cloth boards with silver lettering to spine. Dust jacket. This is a novel set in a spoiled paradise. It is told by Triton, who, at the age of eleven, goes to work as a houseboy to Mister Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed by swamps, sea movements and the island's disappearing reef. Triton learns to polish silver until it shines like molten sun; to mix a love cake with ten eggs, creamed butter and fresh cashew nuts; and to steam the exotic parrot fish for his master's lover. As Trition recounts his story, an extraordinary voice emerges: naive and knowing, fearful and brave, the voice of a boy becoming a man in a world stumbling towards the brink of chaos. Book in near fine condition with some faint soiling to upper edge of text block. Has an unread feel. Dust jacket in very good condition. Unclipped and with some minor edge wear. Seller Inventory # 1305376

Synopsis:

In these stories, the author reveals lives shaped by the exotic, brutal country of his birth, Sri Lanka - a country in which everyone is frightened. "Reef" is the story of love in a spoiled paradise told by Triton, who as the age of 11 escapes from his family to work as a houseboy.

From the Back Cover: Reef is the elegant and moving story of Triton, a talented young chef so committed to pleasing his master's palate that he is oblivious to the political unrest threatening his Sri Lankan paradise. It is a personal story that parallels the larger movement of a country from a hopeful, young democracy to troubled island society. It is also a mature, poetic novel which the British press has compared to the works of James Joyce, Graham Greene, V.S. Naipaul, and Anton Chekhov. With his collection of short stories Monkfish Moon - a New York Times Notable Book of 1993 - Romesh Gunesekera quickly established himself as a leading literary voice. Reef earned universal praise from European critics and landed the young author on the short list for the 1994 Booker Prize, England's highest honor for fiction. Reef explores the entwined lives of Mr. Salgado, an aristocratic marine biologist and student of sea movements and the disappearing reef, and his houseboy, Triton, who learns to polish silver until it shines like molten sun; to mix a love cake with ten eggs, creamed butter, and fresh cadju nuts; to marinade tiger prawns; and to steam parrot fish. Through these characters and the forty years of political disintegration their country endures, Gunesekera tells the tragic, sometimes comic, story of a lost paradise and a young man coming to terms with his destiny.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Reef: A Novel First edition
Publisher: Granta Books, London
Publication Date: 1994
Binding: Hardcover
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Edition: 1st Edition
Book Type: Book