Book Review: The Good Little Ceylonese Girl
'Isn't it wonderful?' she beamed. 'He's alive and well!'
'No, it isn't.' said Maleeshya. She could be quite short with people, though these people were short enough already. 'The flowers are paid for, the caterers are setting up the mala batha on the back verandah. You promised me a funeral.'The Good Little Ceylonese Girl is a collection of seventeen short stories in which Ashok Ferrey writes about Sri Lanka and its people, wherever they roam, of the people who do not recognize that their country has changed during their absence. He writes about the Western influence on Sri Lankans, of its turning them into caricatures, unmistakably genuine but far from the real thing. So while Maleeshya complains about not keeping the promise of a funeral, the reader can also meet the Sri Lankan narrator who visits his friend Joe in Italy where Joe attends a course in higher studies in women. Long years and many miles away, Colombo's Father Cruz attempts to rescue a church from parishioners who like to put their donations where others can see them - with plaques to announce their charity. Two childhood sweethearts, in time-honoured Sri Lankan tradition, are married off to other people. Nineteen years of clandestine meetings culminate in another chance of marriage. Perhaps time does separate.
If the above story lines look vastly disjoint, that is what this collection actually is. All seventeen stories in The Good Little Ceylonese Girl vary widely in their length and aptitude but with a common underlying focus. Initially, the book may feel difficult because certain phases used in the stories are not common to all readers. But, it does not take long to move with the flow. With effortless narrative style and dark humour, Ashok Ferrey's The Good Little Ceylonese Girl is a vast canvas of random images that leaves behind nostalgia for a bygone Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans who might have been. As it happens with every collection, not all stories are equally impressive. However, as a collection, The Good Little Ceylonese Girl definitely is.
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Good read. I had received the review copy from Random House India. Thank you Random House India for giving me this opportunity. You can buy this book at Flipkart in case you live in India.
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