Novel
Funny Boy
Shyam Selvadurai · 1994
Synopsis
In Colombo, Arjie, the second son of a wealthy Tamil family, prefers to the boys' games those of the girls, in which he plays the bride, and the dresses and make-up of his favourite aunt. In six stories, from the age of seven to fourteen, he discovers his desire, sees his aunt Radha fall for Anil, a Sinhalese, then, at school, grows close to Shehan, while the tensions between Sinhalese and Tamils that will lead to the riots of 1983 build up.
Context
The novel was published in Canada in September 1994 by McClelland & Stewart. Made up of six stories, it ties together family, political and sexual identity, between Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils. Frédéric Limare and Susan Fox-Limare translated it into French as Drôle de garçon, for Robert Laffont, in 1998. Canadian radio adapted it as a drama in 2006, and Deepa Mehta brought it to the screen in 2020, from a screenplay written with the author.
Who it is for
To follow the childhood of a boy unlike the others, in a country tearing itself apart.
Prizes and reception
The novel won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award; Kirkus Reviews hailed it as first-rate fiction.