This book had great potential to familiarize readers with an event in Canadian history they may have been aware of (I know I was). It's a very ambitious debut novel, and would have been strengthened by including an author's note with factual information the author found while researching to strengthen the reality of the story. Hopefully this was added before publication, but was not in the review copy. The story switches POV between a recently arrived refugee, a lawyer advocating for the refugees, and an adjudicator who will help decide the fate of individual refugees. Each perspective is a good one to include, but the book felt longer than anything I have read lately, because it also included flashbacks. In the midst of so much suffering, it would have been easier to stay invested in the book if some warm, human moments could have been mixed in. With some editing, this could have been a five star book, and an enlightening one. Instead, I was so ready for it to be over that I did not try to look further into Sri Lanka.

I'm so impressed by this debut novel - told in three different perspectives, we take a close look at the refugee crisis in several parts of the globe. It's emotional, it's touching, and it's inspiring. This novel will stick with me for a while.

Doubleday Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Boat People. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

When a cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees from Sri Lanka's bloody civil war enters the waters that hug the shores of Canada, the young father is optimistic that he has done the very best he can to provide a new life for his six year old son. When the inhabitants of the ship are detained under suspicion for being possible terrorists, will asylum be a fleeting dream? Will the desperate efforts to provide a chance for a better life be the very thing that keeps Mahindan from freedom?

This timely novel about asylum seekers in Canada hits home, especially in light of the current immigration climate in the United States. The inclusion of a Japanese-Canadian adjudicator, a woman whose own mother was faced racism and internment in World War II, gave the story a bit of historical significance. The treatment of the refugees and their hard battle to prove their worthiness is very realistic, as well as the seemingly arbitrary nature of their eventual release or deportment. The book falls short for me in regards to the telling of Mahindan's story, as it is very disjointed and not as compelling as it could have been. Additionally, the man's guilt or innocence is not addressed fully, even at the ending of the book. The author does well in highlighting the fact that history is doomed to be repeated if the policies and principles of the governing party are not changed. Overall, I would recommend The Boat People to readers who like historical fiction and are interested in stories that highlight current issues and situations.

This is an incredibly touching and emotional journey from a war-torn Sri Lanka all the way to the coast of Canada. Told in three different perspectives: a Sri Lankan single-father refugee, a adjudicator, and a law student. Bala's debut is a heartbreaking look into how countries are dealing with the refugee crisis, and specifically how Canada dealt with Sri Lankan refugees (based off a true event). The book highlights the struggle of the Tamil people and refugees, but also what happens when we ignore their plight and refuse aid. This should be required reading.

The Boat People is Sharon Bala's debut novel, and it is an ambitious work of historical fiction. It explores the fate of Sri Lankan refugees who are detained upon their arrival in Canada - where they flee from civil war but are detained upon arrival, accused of being members of a separatist militant group. Told from multiple perspectives, Bala examines the complexities that existed within this particular crisis, but the broader themes resonate powerfully within the current political context as well. Given the lack of source material from individuals involved in the actual event, some of the characters feel a bit underdeveloped at times, though I recognize this is historical fiction.

I really struggled with this book. I made it 25% and then I gave up. The language Was just to hard for me to follow. What I did get from it about immigrants was very interesting and I would have liked to learn more. I really don't like to put the star rating because I didn't finish it but from where I got to I'll give it a 3 star rating.

When a ship with some five hundred refugees from Sri Lanka arrives in Vancouver seeking asylum, it sparks political controversy and fear. Rather than being welcomed, they are thrown into detention centers while Canada decides what to do with them. This is complicated by allegations that at least some of the refugees are terrorists.

The Boat People explores the process of reviewing and deciding just who can and cannot enter Canada from the point of view of three people who are all new to the process, Mahindan, a refugee; Priay, his lawyer; and Grace, the adjudicator who will ultimately decide his fate. This is the first time for all of them, so all of them are learning the ropes and learning how justice can be hard to find.

Mahindan is a single father whose son lives with a foster family while he remains in detention. With his wife dead and his village bombed, he fled with his son and joined the refugees on the cargo ship. He was a mechanic and did his best to avoid involuntary drafting into the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). By doing occasional vehicle repair, he stayed out of the LTTE, however, one of the vehicles he worked on was used in a terrorist attack. Does this make him complicit?

Priya is a Sri Lankan woman, a new lawyer, whose firm assigned her to work with the refugees even though she has no interest in refugee law. She feels that if she were not Sri Lankan, she would never have been given this assignment. So she begins with feelings of resentment and distances herself from the refugees. After all, she is Canadian. However, as she learns more about what the refugees have gone through and what her own family endured, she becomes an advocate in more than her job description.

Grace is a woman who attached her career to a conservative politician, rising with him as his career advanced. He is a nativist who fear-mongers shamelessly. He appoints Grace to this position as an adjudicator even though she has no experience or qualifications certain she will do his bidding. Meanwhile, her grandmother is slipping into Alzheimer’s forgetfulness while also reliving her anger at being interned during World War II and losing the family business. Grace’s children are learning from her grandmother and pointing out parallels between the Japanese of then to the Tamil of today, comparisons Grace does not want to hear.



The Boat People speaks to contemporary events effectively and captures the complexity of immigration politics. Yet, somehow I found it less compelling than expected. Personally, I think we accept far too few refugees and am appalled by political fear-mongering about immigrants and refugees. But in some ways, this felt a bit contrived. For example, within three pages of meeting Priya, I knew how her story would be about changing her attitude. It is a trite story, the lawyer assigned to an emotional case who is changed by it from indifference to advocacy and activism. Of course, it’s commonplace because it really happens, but still, feeling like I know the way the story would go so soon into the story is disappointing, especially when I don’t get surprised along the way.

Mahindan’s story appealed to me the most. It gets at the truth of being a refugee. People don’t do it lightly. Life must become insupportable before they take such an uncertain risk. Warsan Shire wrote, “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.” Bala paints the mouth of the shark and it’s scary, dangerous, and deadly.

Grace is less appealing, yet she is perhaps the one who is asked to make the greatest transformation–that is if she does. How the story resolves is up to the reader, after all. Will we believe Grace transcends her fears or will we decide she is too dependent on her patron to ever be her own woman? It depends on what we make of her.

I received an e-galley of The Boat People from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Boat People at Penguin Random House
Sharon Bala author site

Published by Doubleday on January 9, 2018

The Boat People explores the plight of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka who have traveled to Canada on a freighter. Two key characters are Mahindan and his young son. Much of the novel’s drama is driven by their uncertain fate as they endure detention and admissibility hearings to determine whether they will stay in Canada or be deported to a country where they are likely to be killed. When news of the freighter’s arrival is reported, nationalists carrying “Go Home Terrorists” signs arrive to help make their lives a little more miserable. It seems that some people in Canada shares with their counterparts in the United States a lack of compassion for people born outside the nation’s borders.

The Boat People uses Mahindan to represent the hopes and fears of refugees. Mahindan has great hopes for Canada until he realizes that so much of the country views him as a cockroach. At the same time, scenes of home life in Sri Lanka show how nationalism and a demand for ethnic purity has given Mahindan no choice but to leave. How ironic it is to flee a nationalist movement in one country, only to be rejected by nationalists in a country that claims to be fair-minded.

The other two central characters are native Canadians whose ethnicity becomes an important plot point as the story develops. Priya Rajasekaran, a Canadian whose family came from Sri Lanka, is a third-year law student interning at a Canadian law firm. A senior partner recruits her to help the refugees, despite her lack of interest in refugee law (she prefers corporate mergers and acquisitions). The partner chose Priya because he incorrectly assumed that she speaks Tamil. Being forced to help people from her ancestral land forces Priya to reassess the kind of professional life she wants to live.

Grace Nakamura is a newly appointed adjudicator, transferred from a different government department as a favor to a cabinet minister. The cabinet minister shares an intelligence briefing with Grace, claiming that half the Tamil refugees are Tigers, members of the separatist group that the government regards as terrorists. He wants Grace to disabuse the world of the notion that Canada is “a soft touch.” Like some American politicians, the cabinet minister wants to blame all Canadian crime on immigrants and isn’t afraid to lobby an adjudicator whose job is to make neutral decisions that are uninfluenced by politics.

The cabinet minister and a prosecutor want all of the boat people gone and have no interest in separating Tamil terrorists (if there are any among the refugees) from victims of the Tigers, including Mahindan, who worked as a mechanic and was forced to repair vehicles for the Tigers. In the government’s view, he enabled terrorists. In Mahindan’s view, he was trying to survive so he could make a life for his son.

Grace is the granddaughter of a Japanese immigrant, a fact that occasionally gives her pause when she is told to keep immigrants out of Canada. Grace’s mother, who is seeking redress for her interment during World War II, also gives Grace reason to think that national origin should not determine how a government treats the people within its borders. Yet Grace is so determined to blend in with white Canada that she resents her grandmother telling her twins about the difficulties that the Japanese faced as Canadian immigrants. The war between Grace’s better instincts and the fear that the cabinet minister arouses with his poisonous rhetoric create a conflict that makes Grace an interesting character.

The Boat People makes the point — and it can’t be made too often — the terrorism often grows out of oppression. One way to end terrorism is to end the oppression that breeds it — and the best way to avoid terrorism in a country like Canada is to avoid oppressing the people within the country’s borders.

Several scenes in the story are moving, and they showcase the author’s best writing: a flashback to the birth of Mahindan’s son and the consequent death of his wife; the separation of Mahindan and his son in detention; the son’s trauma when he’s taken to foster care, his hatred of unfamiliar Canada and his longing for a home that has been bombed into oblivion; the story that Priya’s uncle tells of fleeing from the Sinhalese; the stories Grace’s mother tells about Japanese internment.

All of the central characters are multifaceted and conflicted. The plot leads to an unresolved ending, which might be disappointing for some readers, but I appreciated the opportunity to imagine my own ending. The Boat People is a timely novel about a sensitive social and political issue that should engage open-minded readers who care about the larger world.

RECOMMENDED

#TheBoatPeople by Sharon Bala picks up on an actual historical event that brought almost five hundred Sri Lankan refugees to British Columbia, Canada. The difficult but very real thing about this book is that it gives no answers and no absolutes. That is the reality of this very emotional situation. There are no easy answers, only a hope for peace and compassion and an appreciation for any meaningful effort to keep the conversation going.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018/03/the-boat-people.html

Reviewed for #NetGalley

3.5 The refugee crisis has been prominent in many of our countries, the concern for safety of the current citizens, versus those who are looking for a safe place to land and start over. In this book a ship of Sri Lankan refugees , over five hundred, some women and children, but mainly men, seek sanctuary in Canada. How to rate a book with such a strong political message, where one learns so much about the process these refugees go through when entering a foreign country, and one that does such a great job preying on ones humanity? We meet some of the people involved, a woman in charge of the beginning steps in these refugees quest to become residents, Priya, another young woman, a law student, who is assisting as their lawyer, and two wonderful refugees, named Muhindon and his young son, Sellian. Each side of the process is examined, quite informative and thought provoking.

Back to my rating, one would have to be very hard hearted to not feel for these people. In back stories we learn how their lives were in Sri Lanka, the dangers they faced daily, the almost certain death if returned to their country. At times it was almost like I was being lectured, read almost as narrative non fiction instead of fiction. While I was drawn into the story, I felt that character development could have been better, and that the author tried to cover too much. This resulted in my feeling that this read like different segments rather than a cohesive novel.

So a strong political statement on a matter that touches many of our lives. That this was loosely based on a true event made this realistic, but wished it could have focused more on the refugees and less on the process and those involved in the process.

This was our monthly read with my two wonderful book buds, and I just love our discussions. Priceless!

ARC from Netgalley.

The Boat People by Sharon Bala might best be reviewed after tonight's State of the Union address... The Boat People tells the story of immigration from three different viewpoints... VERY different viewpoints. There's no denying the political message behind this read, but instead of focusing there, I'll begin with a good ol' simple review.

For me, the most prolific character was Mahindan. He arrives to Canada's shores with his 6 year old son with the hopes of beginning a new life. He and the others on the boat are escaping to Canada due to the civil war that lasted around 26 years. I will not provide a history lesson here but suffice it to say, there was a group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, that wanted to create a liberated state for the Tamil people. They perceived a lot of inequality from the Sri Lankan government which ultimately disenfranchised them. Ultimately, they waged war on the government and these wars led to a lot of casualties.

I digressed there a little bit.

Mahindan hopes to begin a new life in Canada with his son. After a harrowing journey across the ocean, he steps foot onto Canadian soil and is placed into jail. Although these holding sites aren't referred to as jails, they are barred with no freedom. Mahindan's son is taken from him and placed with another woman from the boat and they remain this way as months pass by.

During their time in camp, their papers were heavily scrutinized by the Canadian officials because they had reason to suspect that the LTTE boarded the ship in the hopes of playing out terrorist acts in Canada. Mahindan and others from the boat are interviewed scrupulously.

**Note to readers-I refuse to call these characters "Boat People". I believe once we are diminished to a skin color, race, geography, sex, or what have you, we're no longer seeing a human being but rather, a non-human that doesn't deserve any rights.**

Sharon Bala allows us to see different viewpoints such as the lawyers that are on Mahindan's side and the adjudicators against him and the others displaced. I enjoyed reading about them and their lives as well. Grace is responsible for making sure she thoroughly checks out the newly arrived. She takes her job very serious because she feels she is responsible for any person that might be harmed because she didn't do her job. Even in the face of all evidence suggesting the refugees are telling the truth, she gives a new meaning to the word gatekeeper.

I don't envy her nor her job.

I'm no bleeding heart liberal that suggests we just open up all the doors, but c'mon! I do have a heart. Let me get on my soapbox for one moment and say how shitty these situations are. My ancestors didn't have a choice in coming here, I get it! That's ancient history. But I've heard the argument time and time again, well if you don't like it here, go back to your own country. Many people of color hear this same retort. It seems that this country is only inviting to people of certain colors or those who came here the "right way".

The "right way" is also thrown about by other immigrants in The Boat People. My grandfather was Jamaican, and he came here the "right way" but he would never fix his mouth (God rest his soul) to say others shouldn't reap the benefits of beginning a life somewhere else.

I mean... after the North disenfranchised many countries and left them to what was left of their pillaged lands we have the nerve to say they come from "shit" countries...

WOOSAHHHHH....

See!?!?!! Sharon Bala touches on a lot of arguments and raises a lot of points in the case of immigration. During the current political and social climate in the States makes someone like me ripe with anger when reading this and then watching the news. I just need to take a step back and realize The Boat People might be someone's story, but at this time, it's fictional. It's actually a good work of fiction that I really enjoyed. When I wasn't thinking about immigration I was wondering about the Sri Lankan Civil War. Ultimately, Bala creates an engulfing story that many will find engrossing.

Yes it will boil your skin at times. Sure you might want to root for those who have allowed fear to keep our respective countries less diverse. Essentially, I really enjoyed The Boat People and look forward to reading more by Sharon Bala.

Copy Provided by Doubleday Books via Netgalley

Talk about a novel pertinent to today's issues! Sharon Bala has a created a novel with a plot that easily could have made the day's headlines. "The Boat People" follows various avenues after a rusty cargo ship carrying Sri Lanka refugees reaches Canadian shores. Mahindan, a single parent with his 6-year-old son are among the 500 on board who are hoping to build a new life for themselves. The refugees are housed in a prison as lawyers, government officials and court leaders debut their merits. One by one, they evaluate each refugee for merit, worthiness and most importantly terrorist threat. Just as in real life, decisions are made that have a life-altering consequence. As readers come to know the players in the refugee chess game, Mahindan's flashback give a glimpse into the terrifying life of citizens caught up in a civil war. Inspired by real events, "The Boat People" offers a compassionate look into the current refugee crisis being played out around the world.

4.5 stars. There were many occasions throughout this book where it read like a five star novel. Bala’s book is akin to Chimamanda’s Half of a Yellow Sun in that it feels like homage to Sri Lanka and all the Tamil refugees. Her writing is in turns visceral, nostalgic and filled with wry humor. So many more things to say.

3.5 rounded up.

This book tackles a difficult and timely topic based on a true event that occurred in Canada in 2010 with the arrival of a ship from Sri Lanka carrying nearly 500 refugees seeking asylum. This is an important story reflecting on an issue that is front and center right now in countries across the world. Through three alternating narratives, Sharon Bala gives us a view of the complexity of it all - the process, the red tape of the system, the politics, the emotional and gut wrenching stories of the refugees who out of desperation do what they need to do to survive and to save their families . This will impact what they tell, what they don’t tell of their past. They are desperate and don’t want to be deported back to the hell they escaped.

The narrative that impacted me the most was the one centered around Mahindan and his six year old son, Sellian. Through Mahindan’s nightmares, we get glimpses of the horrors of the war they their escape. We also see what life was like - the good times before juxtaposed against these awful times in Sri Lanka and the current detainment is Canada. The other chapters are from the perspective of Priya, a law student and daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants who is assigned to work on some of the cases , including Mahindan’s and Grace, an inexperienced adjudicator for the Refugee Board. Her Japanese grandparents were held in an internment camp. It took me to about halfway before I could get warmed up to these second two narratives and at first thought that the author tried to cover too much . Thus the 3.5 Stars. There is, though relevance in their family stories when the details are eventually revealed. It was to their family members that I connected once I knew their stories- Grace’s mother Kumi and Priya’s father and uncle.

Overall, not a perfect book. I was a little disappointed in the ending, but it is relevant and thought provoking and for that I rounded up to 4 stars. This was another terrific read with Esil and Diane, whose thoughts I alway appreciate. Since Esil is Canadian, she had a better perspective on the politics and public views on this event, which was very helpful.


I received an advanced copy of this book from Doubleday Books through NetGalley.

A wonderfully written thoughtful book that gives insight not only into a refugee crisis but also to the people who must deal with the challenges once those refugees reach, in this case, Canada. This is especially interesting because it focuses on Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers, a country and a movement which have received less attention in the US than in Canada. Mahindan seeks nothing more than hope and a new life for himself and his son but finds himself in a system that isn't listening. Priya, his attorney, brings her own Sri Lankan background to the table- a background she's tried to suppress and resents. Grace, the adjudicator, who is a third generation Japanese Canadian, also has a point of view. The story is told by all three. It's not a happy situation and there are no easy answers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is well worth reading, especially for those in the US to get a different perspective on immigration.

Sharon Bala artfully intertwines multiple narratives from the past and present in this heartbreaking tale of immigration, identity, and persecution. When a large group of Tamil refugees arrives off the coast of Canada they expect to finally find peace and safety. Instead, they are whisked away to detention centers to be held until their claims for refugee status can be either accepted or denied. This is especially troubling for Mahindan, a single father whose six-year old son is separated from him on arrival. Priya, meanwhile, is reassigned to spend the last few months of her law school internship helping out with the refugees cases—and she’s pretty sure they only chose her because of her own Tamil heritage. Overseeing the cases is Grace, an adjudicator who initially believes the issue is black and white—immigrants come here legally, refugees don’t have ties to terrorists—even while her mother insists on drawing comparisons to how the government took everything from them during World War II.

The story lines compliment and build on one another in beautiful—and sometimes surprising—ways. As the story digs deeper into the past of the refugees and the pasts and motivations of the others involved in their cases, it becomes clear that nothing is quite as simple as it seems. As Grace finds herself asking at one point: is a man forced under duress to fix a bus for a terrorist group that is later used in a bombing complicit…or merely a man without a choice?

Though not all of the characters motivations are for the good of the refugees, all of the characters are doing what they think is best. The fact that these characters—Grace and Priya, in particular—grow and realize things are more gray than they first appear makes them much more sympathetic. But even when Grace refuses to draw the lines of connection between the current refugee crisis and her own family history involving the Japanese immigrants and citizens of Canada being forced into camps during World War II, even when she holds to questionable politics and refuses to understand the horrifying position these refugees faced back home in Sri Lanka, still Bala somehow manages to make her an empathetic characters. That’s the mark of a good writer.

It’s a lovely book and a really, really heartbreaking look at what it’s like to be a refugee and how broken the system is. Not to mention, an important reminder that history repeats itself in so many ways and that intolerance is something that has to be actively fought against. It’s just a beautiful and timely work of literary fiction, really.

My one real issue with the book? The ending. It was incredibly abrupt. I don’t necessarily mind an ending that is open ended or inconclusive—I quite like those actually—but this one just felt a little too sudden for me.

I'm Italian and I consider the refugees people who are usually from Africa, so I learned a lot about Sri Lanka, tamil and Canada reading this book, and I sadly understand that there is not such a big difference between U.S. and Canada right now in their attitude towards the immigrate, whatever the good looking Justin Trudeau affirms. Anyway this is a long story that reads very fast and told by three different point of view who gave me a lot of food for thoughts.

Da italiana, di solito gli immigrati per me sono quelli che vengono dall'Africa, stavolta invece ho imparato parecchio sullo Sri Lanka e sul Canada e di come, purtroppo, qualsiasi cosa dica Justin Trudeau, non ci sono poi delle differenze cosí grandi tra U.S. e Canada nei confronti di un certo tipo di immigrati/richiedenti asilo/profughi. Comunque, questo é un libro lungo che si legge velocemente ed é raccontato da tre diversi punti di vista e che mi ha dato parecchio da pensare.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

I have a large following so I do not post reviews that are only one star. It doesn't seem fair to the author.

I honestly could tell by the writing of the first 2 chapters that it wouldn't be a good fit for our box and had to put it down. I may read it again in the future as it seemed like it would be really good!

This is automatically in the running for my favorite book of 2018. A great book club read as it will generate a lot of discussion.