The Hungry Ghosts

by Shyam Selvadurai

The author is Sri Lankan, and this story is about a Sri Lankan boy who eventually immigrates to Canada and his life and Canada and Sri Lanka.

The book does a great job of developing the characters and the complexity of their lives and ambitions.  The story is about the boy, his mother and sister and his cantankerous grandmother.  The grandmother, a widow, has numerous properties and she is very aggressive and even spiteful in her business dealings, doing everything she can to outsmart, even abuse people during the trouble time of the Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka.

The boy's father dies when he is young and the boy's mother moves in with her mother because she is poor and sees not option.  Her mother treats her horribly, either criticizing her or ignoring her.  The grandmother adores the young boy and is mentoring him to take over her business investments. He is witness to the eviction of some very poor tennants from a slum dwelling his grandmother owns by some thugs his mother is friends with.  The boy is so upset by his grandmother's behaviour to his mother and her terrible business practices that he convices his mother that they should emigrate to Canada.  The mother is reluctant at first but eventually agrees.   The grandmother is furious about their decision.

Life in Canada is safe but very difficult for the entire family.  The mother struggles in low level jobs and the boy has trouble making any friends.  His problems are compounded by the fact that he is gay.  He does have some temporary relationships.  Then the Grandmother has a stroke and the boy goes back to Sri Lanka for a short visit to help her out.  She convinces him to stay longer and he agrees because he is so unhappy in Canada.  However he insists that he will run things his way, be less mean, fix up some of the poor buildings and get better tennants more likey to be able to pay their rent.  He also starts a loving relationship with a former school friend.   When his grandmother finds out that he is gay she gets her thugs to kidnap the young man's lover.  While they were only supposed to scare him off, he is killed, we do not learn exactly howl
In Sri Lanka homosexuality is not permitted and there are severe penalties for those who are caught.

The boy is devastated by the death of his friend and furious at his grandmother.  He decides to leave and return to Canada.  His grandmother decides to build a temple, to achieve good Karma, and to leave all her wealth to the church, rather than her grandson.

He is having difficulty with his mother so he decides to leave Toronto for Vancouver.  He starts a new life and finds a new lover, but he is still haunted by the death of his former lover.  When he tells his current partner about his past life and that he still dreams of his dead friend, the partner is angry that he never told him the truth and their relationship falls apart.

As the book ends the boy is leaving for Sri Lanka to bring his Grandmother to Canada as she has had several more strokes, but as he is leaving he realizes she will never come to Canada and that his only option is to return to Sri Lanka and look after her til her death.... to appease the bad Karma his grandmother has created in her life and also to achieve some forgiveness for his role in the death of his friend..  He thinks that is the only way for the family to achieve peace.

This was a fascinating story, the disfunctional family dynamics were portrayed very well and very convincingly, the challenges the many characters face trying to live the lives they want in conflict with society roles and expectations against the backdrop of Sri Lanka in civil war, are very poignantly depicted.  He also does an excellent job of portraying the struggles and frustrations of new immigrants.

This is a book that makes you think about personal responsibility, conflict and consequences of pursuing ones passions with not sufficient thought of the consequences.