The Boat People By Sharon Bala
Adult Realistic Fiction
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 is thrown into prison, with government officials and news headlines speculating that hidden among the "boat people" are members of a terrorist militia infamous for suicide attacks.
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.
This book was one of the few times where picking out a book on a whim actually turned out well. I hardly ever buy books on a whim, but on a trip in Canada, I wanted to purchase a book by a Canadian to bring home as a souvenir and learn more about that beautiful country.
My heart swarmed with sympathy for Mahindan and his son, who have faced so many terrors in their homeland, only to be faced with more in this new country. Mahindan's positive outlook and endurance are astounding.
I loved how Bala wrote this tale in three different voices: Mahindan's, his lawyer, Priya's, and the adjudicator who must decide Mahindan's fate, Grace. The book would have been much more biased and one-sided without these three perspectives shedding light on the entire broken, challenging system of dealing with refugees.
I also enjoyed how Bala weaves the past events in Sri Lanka leading up to Mahindan and his son's departure to Canada with present events in the book. These glimpses into the past shed light on why so many refugees would risk everything to come to a new country, as well as the complexity of right and wrong related to the war and terrorists in Sri Lanka. How could a judge make the best decision when they don't understand that someone might become a terrorist (in Sri Lanka) to save their family from being killed by those same terrorists? This showed how impossible the adjucator's job is, and how important it is to hear the refugees' story. What's even more exciting is that this story was based on true events, which Bala outlines at the back of the book.
The only thing I didn't enjoy about The Boat People was the ending. It didn't satisfactorily answer several major questions for me, and one of the main characters didn't change as much as I would have liked.
Overall, though, I still rate this book a 4 out of 5. I recommend it to 18 year olds and older due to a few graphic scenes and adult subject matter.
What I learned: The complexities and difficulties of the legal system (at least in Canada) in relation to refugees. It's best not to judge someone until you hear their whole story-and everyone has a story.
