Rate this book

The Hungry Ghosts (2013)

by Shyam Selvadurai(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0385670664 (ISBN13: 9780385670661)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Doubleday Canada

review 1: This finely crafted, richly sensual novel brings to life the complicated political tensions in Sri Lanka, the immigrant experience in Canada, the realities of gay sexualities in both countries and the dynamics that bind and threaten to destroy our most important relationships. Structured around Buddhist mythology, karma plays out its turn in these pages right to the end. My experience of reading this novel was enhanced by the opportunity to hear the author read from this book and talk about his ongoing work in Sri Lanka. One of the finest Canadian novels I have read in years.
review 2: Shyam Selvadurai is fast becoming one of my favourite novelists. After Cinnamon Gardens, I picked this up as an impulse buy and basically breezed through it in about 8 hours. Wha... moret makes him such a talented storyteller, and this book so compelling, is that it's an immigration story, very clearly written for other diasporic peoples living in Canada. There is no pandering to a Western audience here. No syrupy inspiration porn of cultural mosaics and multiculturalism. Selvadurai gets directly at the heart of alienation, homesickness, white supremacy, and culture shock that comes from being a diasporic immigrant, and the added layers of homophobia and difficulty with racism and cultural fetishization that comes from being a gay Asian immigrant to boot. But more than that, it's a highly personal story, that never loses sight of the struggles of the protagonist and the family and supporting cast that surrounds him. It's his story, from start to finish, but the reader gets involved in it as if it were their own, without Selvadurai resorting to dumbing-down the historical realities or spoonfeeding the reader. It's a must-have addition to any libraries seeking books on immigration, queerness, intimacies, and families. less

Download links for: The Hungry Ghosts

Advertising