Book Review :Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadorai

When I saw the name `Shyam Selvadorai' at a bookstore, I squealed with delight and so did my mom. We just rushed and picked up a copy. Afterall, we had been dying to read another book by this guy who had written `Funny Boy' and `Cinnamon Gardens'.

My friend Neetu, who is as enthusiastic about Selvadorai as my Mom and me, was a bit hesitant. `This book has been classified under the young adult genre' she said doubtfully. Momentarily stunned, my mom and I looked at the book a bit suspiciously, but finally as Selvadorai was too much to resist we picked it up.

Swimming.... is the story of a young Sri Lankan boy discovering his sexuality. Till the advent of his cousin into his life, Amrith, our 14-year-old protagonist is just a teenager with a chip on his shoulder because of his past. He has been lovingly adopted into Aunty Bundle's family following his mother's death. All of them (Aunty Bundle, her husband and two daughters) love him as their own, but Amrith refuses to belong to the family. But life brightens up for him with the advent of his Canadian cousin Niresh and the rest of the story is about how he falls in love with Niresh and through that process comes to terms with his past and with his sexuality.

The story is fairly simple, straight and well-told. There are the glimpses of Sri Lankan society as well as references to racism in Canada and how settlers deal with it. It is therefore by no standards a bad book.

However, it doesn't draw one as did Funny Boy and Cinnamon Gardens. In fact, I thought Funny Boy was particularly brilliant weaving the tumultous times of Sri Lankan society with its civil unrest into the story to a young boy discovering his homosexuality.

The evocative social commentary, depth of characterisation as well as the humour lacing his previous two books was missing in Swimming....and thereby made for a disappointing read. We had definitely hoped for more... Well, until the next book perhaps.