Books like Drôle de garçon by Shyam Selvadurai
Arjie is a funny, spirited boy who prefers staging make‑believe wedding pageants with his female cousins over engaging in competitive ball games with the other boys. When his parents discover his innocent pastime, they force him to abandon those idyllic childhood games and adopt the rigid rules of an adult world.
Bewildered by his incipient sexual awakening and mortified by the escalating Tamil‑Sinhalese conflicts that threaten to tear apart his homeland, Arjie painfully grows toward manhood, slowly gaining an understanding of his own different identity.
Set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s turbulent political climate, the novel explores themes of family dynamics, sexual identity, and the clash between tradition and modernity, offering a nuanced portrait of a young man navigating complex personal and societal expectations.
First publish date: 1994
Genre: LGBTQ+ Fiction/Gay Fiction
Authors: Shyam Selvadurai
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