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Kai Spellmeier's Reviews > The Boat People
The Boat People
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“Hope was a dangerous thing to lose.”
Sharon Bala's debut novel is a touching and emotional journey from war-torn Sri Lanka all the way to the coast of Canada.
When a refugee boat with over 500 Tamil people arrives after a long and hard trip, their passengers are divided into male and female and taken to prisons for shelter. Here they have to wait and hope not to be sent back, which would mean their deaths. However, the Canadian government won't make it easy for them to set foot on open Canadian ground, because it fears that this might be a scheme to bring terrorist to their country. After months and months of death, violence, loss and hunger, they have to sit through countless hearings and tests that will decide over their fates.
Three different characters lead us through the story: Mahindan, a widower and father, who hopes to build a new life with his son, Priya, a law student who works on Mahindan's case, and Grace, who has the last word on who is allowed to stay and who gets deported. The alternating POV's draw an intriguing and balanced picture of the arrival, the legal battle and the personal struggles of everyone involved. The many characters in this story might seem overwhelming at first but the love for detail in their characterisations and backgrounds makes them ever so real. Apart from the story's central conflict - the arrival of the refugees and their path to being admitted - we also meet their family, coworkers, friends and partners. It's incredible how much thought the author has put into these characters, their fears and their dreams. And even minor characters go through well-written character development.
I don't want to say too much about the plot itself, except that it never once got boring. It's a rounded story, without going too much into detail, otherwise, this book would have been 300 pages longer. We get to see disturbing, bittersweet and happy moments in these character's lives.
Overall, I'm thankful I got to read this book. I would never have known about the war in Sri Lanka, the process of admitting refugees to a country, and Tamil culture in general. I hope more and more people are going to read this novel. It's a diverse, complicated and moving book. (view spoiler)
Thank you to Penguin Random House for this review copy!
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Sharon Bala's debut novel is a touching and emotional journey from war-torn Sri Lanka all the way to the coast of Canada.
When a refugee boat with over 500 Tamil people arrives after a long and hard trip, their passengers are divided into male and female and taken to prisons for shelter. Here they have to wait and hope not to be sent back, which would mean their deaths. However, the Canadian government won't make it easy for them to set foot on open Canadian ground, because it fears that this might be a scheme to bring terrorist to their country. After months and months of death, violence, loss and hunger, they have to sit through countless hearings and tests that will decide over their fates.
Three different characters lead us through the story: Mahindan, a widower and father, who hopes to build a new life with his son, Priya, a law student who works on Mahindan's case, and Grace, who has the last word on who is allowed to stay and who gets deported. The alternating POV's draw an intriguing and balanced picture of the arrival, the legal battle and the personal struggles of everyone involved. The many characters in this story might seem overwhelming at first but the love for detail in their characterisations and backgrounds makes them ever so real. Apart from the story's central conflict - the arrival of the refugees and their path to being admitted - we also meet their family, coworkers, friends and partners. It's incredible how much thought the author has put into these characters, their fears and their dreams. And even minor characters go through well-written character development.
I don't want to say too much about the plot itself, except that it never once got boring. It's a rounded story, without going too much into detail, otherwise, this book would have been 300 pages longer. We get to see disturbing, bittersweet and happy moments in these character's lives.
Overall, I'm thankful I got to read this book. I would never have known about the war in Sri Lanka, the process of admitting refugees to a country, and Tamil culture in general. I hope more and more people are going to read this novel. It's a diverse, complicated and moving book. (view spoiler)
Thank you to Penguin Random House for this review copy!
Find more of my books on Instagram
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Kathi
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Apr 11, 2018 11:48AM
Good review, knowing what the book shows us...
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Kathi wrote: "Good review, knowing what the book shows us..."thank you :)
