Suncatcher

January 13, 2020
Gunesekera’s engrossing coming-of-age tale (after Noon Tide Toll) explores the porous class boundaries in 1960s Ceylon. After schools close in the city of Columbo due to government upheaval, preteen Kairo fills his time hanging out with an older, enigmatic wealthy boy named Jay. Kairo is intrigued by Jay’s aquariums and aviary, and after watching a bird take flight, he muses on the time he’d spent “waiting for someone like Jay to turn up and switch on the lights.” As Kairo spends more time with Jay and Jay’s uncle Elvin, who considers himself a refined gentleman and is the owner of an extensive gun collection and numerous cars, Jay introduces Kairo to fishing and hunting, and the younger boy begins identifying with Jay’s grand lifestyle. In addition, Kairo is fascinated by Jay’s beautiful mother, who drinks in the daytime and has an antagonistic relationship with Jay’s father. As Jay’s family falls apart and Jay becomes despondent over the disappearance of their favorite bird, Kairo realizes that while his own family lacks the wealth and eccentricity of Jay’s family, their stability is worth appreciating. Gunesekera successfully captures an adolescent’s cravings for a wealthy lifestyle and the ensuing loss of innocence in the face of tumult. This will move readers.

With his melodic Sri Lankan-British accent, Romesh Gunesekera narrates his semiautobiographical coming-of-age novel about a shy middle-class boy who avoids his bickering parents by surrounding himself with Westerns, superheroes, and comic books. When he is befriended by an intriguing, rebellious teenager who collects birds, guns, and firecrackers, our protagonist is introduced to an upper-class world of hunting lodges, estates, late nights, fast bikes, and faster cars. Set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka's political upheaval in the 1960s, the story exudes a sense of nostalgia and longing as a beautiful girl becomes friends with both boys, and suddenly the world doesn't seem big enough. Gunesekera tells this story in a voice filled with the heartbroken passion that only the young possess. B.P. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine