The Boat People

by Sharon Bala Narrated by Athena Karkanis

Overview

By the winner of The Journey Prize, and inspired by a real incident, The Boat People is a gripping and morally complex novel about a group of refugees who survive a perilous ocean voyage to reach Canada - only to face the threat of deportation and accusations of terrorism in their new land.
*
When the rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees reaches the shores of British Columbia, the young father is overcome with relief: he and his six-year-old son can finally put Sri Lanka's bloody civil war behind them and begin new lives. Instead, the group is thrown into prison, with government officials and news headlines speculating that hidden among the “boat people” are members of a terrorist militia. As suspicion swirls and interrogation mounts, Mahindan fears the desperate actions he took to survive and escape Sri Lanka now jeopardize his and his son's chances for asylum.
**** ****** Told through the alternating perspectives of Mahindan; his lawyer Priya, who reluctantly represents the migrants; and Grace, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian adjudicator who must decide Mahindan's fate, The Boat People is a high-stakes novel that offers a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis. Inspired by real events, with vivid scenes that move between the eerie beauty of northern Sri Lanka and combative refugee hearings in Vancouver, where life and death decisions are made, Sharon Bala's stunning debut is an unforgettable and necessary story for our times.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"The Boat People is a burning flare of a novel, at once incendiary and illuminating. With a rare combination of precision, empathy and insight, Sharon Bala has crafted an unflinching examination of what happens when the fundamental human need for safety collides with the cold calculus of bureaucracy. In the best tradition of fearless literature, it shatters our comfortable illusions about who we really are and reveals just how asymmetrical the privilege of belonging can be. This is a brilliant debut – a story that needs to be told, told beautifully.”
—Omar El Akkad, author of American War

"Probing...Timely..."
—The New Yorker

"Timely and engrossing...This is a powerful debut."
—Publishers Weekly

"Rooted in actual events, Bala uses the tools of fiction to excavate the human truths hidden under the headlines...The Boat People is a book perfect for our times, essential reading to bring context to questions which we are, perhaps, more inclined to ignore." 
—Toronto Star

“This earnest debut novel forcefully explores the issues surrounding immigration…deeply moving and nuanced, The Boat People asks what price a country is willing to pay when public safety comes at the cost of human lives.”
—Booklist

"A multifaceted debut novel...Cinematic details transport us to a tension-rich drama...Bala moves fluidly from past to present, mixing memories with current crises...Such juxtapositions build and maintain suspense all the way to the last line, where readers are left hanging, as if justice is in our hands."
—BookPage

“A deeply honest story that speaks from the soul of the refugee. Sharon Bala paints a picture of love, strength and struggle so vividly and so powerfully with her words, that it has the ability to be a catalyst for a deeper conversation and change about issues surrounding immigration today…Bravo to Bala on a phenomenal début that gives life to every one of us who wants people to have the opportunity for a better life.”
—Fredericksburg Freelance-Star

Kirkus Reviews

2017-10-16
A real ship of refugees inspires a novel about the messy consequences of war.In 2010, Canadian authorities intercepted a rusty Thai freighter carrying 492 refugees from war-ravaged Sri Lanka, the teardrop-shaped island once called Ceylon, off the tip of India. The headlines inspired Bala to write and launch her first novel as books about migrants are at flood tide. This one toggles between Sri Lankan flashbacks and Vancouver, British Columbia, where the passengers come ashore, mistaking the helicopter and Canadian ships for a welcome party. Instead, they're all sent into detention, where many remain through these pages. Mahindan, a minority Tamil mechanic, and his small son are assigned to a well-meaning, alcoholic lawyer and his law student sidekick, Priya, a second-generation Sri Lankan-Canadian pining to do corporate work: "The pungent combination of chili powder, body odour, and urine that wafted ahead of them made Priya hold her breath," Bala writes. This is never a subtle book. It also features political appointee Grace Nakamura, a Japanese-Canadian adjudicator who, by the last page, has yet to rule on Mahindan's status. Grace's mother endured a World War II internment camp, setting up the elder woman's fixation on the property the family lost. Bala's writing is generally crisp, with occasional glints of humor. The short, unnumbered chapters march briskly; the dialogue lacks quotation marks. Each chapter heading—"Go Home Terorists!" (the misspelling is intentional); "Welcome to Winter"; "Enemy Aliens"; "Judge, Jury, and Executioner"—is plucked from the text. This first book has a workshopped feel as well as a few memorable passages: Mahindan's first encounter with a Western shower, the rhythms of a recycled family joke, a chilling scene of United Nations withdrawal. But compared to nuanced recent literature set amid Sri Lankan strife—On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman or The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam—this is thin fare.A strong premise runs aground trying to form a set of convictions into a novel.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169471359
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/09/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Beginning
Inshallah, Mr. Gigovaz

Gigovaz’s Subaru was idling at the entrance of her low-rise when Priya came down from her apartment at 4 a.m. A police cruiser had pulled up alongside and both drivers had their windows lowered like characters in a cop show.
(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "The Boat People"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Sharon Bala.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Videos