Let's Go Swimming in the Monsoon Sea with Shyam Selvadurai...

It's Sri Lanka, 1980, and the season of monsoons. Fourteen year old Amrith lives with kind uncle Lucky and aunty Bundle along with their two daughters Selvi and Mala after his parent's death. Amrith’s school holiday plans seem unpromising: he has to appear in his school’s production of Othello and he is learning to type at Uncle Lucky’s tropical fish business. Then, like an unexpected monsoon, his cousin brother arrives from Canada and he finds himself falling in love with the Canadian boy. Othello, with its powerful theme of disastrous jealousy, is the backdrop to the drama in which Amrith finds himself immersed.

Shyam Selvadurai’s first young adult novel which even was Nominated for the Governor General's Literary Awards 2005, (Children's Literature, Text), he explores first love with purity, humor,and compassion. This novel reminds the reader about Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family; both highlights the struggles of children with their families. Swimming in the Monsoon Sea is the kind of compound novel best appreciated by adults and older teenagers who have moved to a more wistful approach to literature. Even though it has categorized as a gay love story, there's no implied sex, no reciprocation of feelings. Instead, it's a story of young love and loss. Feelings of a young boy who has just stepped into his teen age.

I really don't think of it as a "young adults" book. It is a book for everyone. It's a lovely piece of writing, about a young boy's feelings, teenage love and mixture of various emotions. It is intended for teenagers, but can be enjoyed by older people as well. It will take you back to your teen-age in your life.

Post Script -
This book was translated to Sinhala by Mr. J.P. Wanniarachchi with the title "මෝසම් මුහුදේ පිහිනීම" in 2008 under the label of Sarasavi Publishers.
ISBN 978-955-573-686-2
Price : Rs. 490.00

By - Asanka Jayawardene