The Hungry Ghosts is a 2013 novel written by Shyam Selvadurai and published by Doubleday Canada.
 First edition cover (publ. Doubleday Canada) | |
| Author | Shyam Selvadurai |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Doubleday Canada |
Publication date | January 1, 2012 |
| ISBN | 978-0-385-67066-1 |
Synopsis
edit"The Hungry Ghosts" by Shyam Selvadurai is set between Toronto, Ontario in the 2010s and Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the 1980s and early 1990s. It has a non-linear timeline. It centres on Shivan Rassiah, a young gay man of mixed Tamil and Sinhalese descent, living in Canada. He is preparing to fly to Colombo to retrieve his infirm grandmother and bring her to live in Toronto. His grandmother, the respected matriarch of their family, is very conservative, cunning, and attached to her wealth and property in Colombo. She also strongly disapproves of Shivan's homosexuality. The reader follows Shivan on his travels, as he struggles to make sense of his memories of his youth in Sri Lanka, while also trying to reconcile it with his current life in Canada, which has not proven to be the safe-haven his family imagined when fleeing their home decades earlier.[1][2]
Reception
editReviews
editThe Hungry Ghosts received largely positive reviews. For the Globe and Mail, Hasanthika Sirisena writes, "All of Selvadurai's characters are nuanced with motivations that stem not from their political or ethnic roles, but from raw human longing", and "Selvadurai's work reminds me that the contemporary novel doesn't necessarily have to resort to thrills or high jinks in order to find its usefulness".[3] For Quill and Quire, Steph VanderMeulen writes, "The novel’s non-linear structure is (perhaps intentionally) disorienting... Nevertheless, The Hungry Ghosts is an accomplished, resonant novel."[2] In Now, Susan G. Cole praises the novel: "It’s taken the Sri Lankan-Canadian author 10 years to deliver this, his third novel. It was definitely worth the wait.”[4]
Awards and honours
editThe Hungry Ghosts was a national bestseller.[citation needed]
| Year | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Governor General's Award for English-language fiction | Shortlist | [5] |
| 2014 | DSC Prize for South Asian Literature | Longlist | [6][7] |
| 2014 | Toronto Book Awards | Shortlist | [8] |
References
edit- ^ Mackenzie, Crystal (10 July 2014). "Book Review of "The Hungry Ghost" by Shyam Selvadurai". FreeFall Magazine. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ a b VanderMeulen, Steph. "The Hungry Ghosts". Quill & Quire. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Sirisena, Hasanthika (5 April 2013). "Shyam Selvadurai returns with novel of raw human longing". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Cole, Susan G. (11 April 2013). "Shyam Selvadurai's The Hungry Ghosts". NOW Toronto. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Ahearn, Victoria (2 October 2013). "Governor General Literary Award finalists announced (updated)". The Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2014 – longlist | Jaya's blog". Jaya Bhattacharji Rose. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "The Jack McClelland Writer-in-Residence | Department of English". University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ "Toronto Book Awards 2014 finalists: Shyam Selvadurai's The Hungry Ghosts". Toronto Star. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.