Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shym Selvadurai

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Selvadurai, S. (2005) Swimming in the Monsoon Sea. Toronto: Tundra Books. 

Winner of the CLA Young Adult Book Award, 2006.

Fourteen-year-old Amrith who lives in Shri Lanka in the summer of 1980 enjoys his life in the household of his Auntie Bundle and Uncle Lucky with his two girl cousins. He had plans to get the lead in the schools version of a scene from Othello. In the beginning of the story you know that it was tragic circumstances that caused him to be living with his Aunt and Uncle but you don't find out the whole story until much further into the story. He finds out that he has other relatives that he has never met, his mother's brother has come to look a property that he was left and has brought Amirth's cousin with him. Amirth ends up putting his plans on hold to get to know his cousin and wants to learn everything about him. He finds himself having feelings he never expected to have for his cousin. He finds himself falling in love with the boy and then struggles with how to deal with it. In the culture that he was brought up in this is something that is seen as dirty and unclean. He struggles to deal with all of the feelings inside, the jealousy and the love that he feels for the people in his life.  

This book would appeal to the higher level of the YA group mainly High school (grades 10-12) and maybe even into early adulthood. It deals with something that could affect many of the potential readers. As we are growing up we deal with things that are different from what we thought and especially they fact that this young boy who is gay is living in a culture that doesn't accept that. Many of the people that would be reading this story might be in a similar situation and might relate to the story. One of the limitations of this book is the pop culture references, they are older (the story being set in 1980) and some of the younger readers might not understand them.

Rating: 3/5