Funny Boy

A quiet masterpiece

Gay Times

An extaordinarily powerful, deeply moving novel

Amitav Ghosh

At first sight an innocently observed portrait of Tamil family life in seventies Sri Lanka, it metamorphosed into a lucid, serious piece of writing... Selvadurai's world is delightful, frightening, important and he describes it with touching clarity... His novel is a graceful and intelligent account of the random nature of growing up

Observer

Exquisitely written...superb

Independent

Glittering and wise... Funny Boy keeps repeating that the human condition can, in spite of everything, be joyful. You are not alone, it says to the reader. I understand you. I too was there. I remember

Alberto Manguel

Selvadurai writes as sensitively about the emotional intensity of adolescence as he does about the wonder of childhood

New York Times Book Review

The unadorned and simple prose has elegance and great sophistication. Moreover, Selvadurai has a genius for touching a nerve with a feather-light touch... A powerful and beautifully written novel

Literary Review