Bringing Tony HomeSet in the 1940s and 1960s, Bringing Tony Home is a masterful modern example of a timeless genre, the bildungsroman. In the title novella, a boy returns to his old home to find Tony, his beloved dog who was abandoned when economic circumstances forced the family to leave. “Bringing Tony Home” recounts this perilous journey in detail, movingly tracing the boy’s rescue attempts and his spiraling emotions as he endures changes occurring in his family. In “Elsewhere: Something Like a Love Story,” a young boy finds forbidden love with a schoolmate scorned for her poverty. “Elsewhere” continues their saga, touching on the bittersweet memories they share as adults, and on the woman’s increasingly precarious place in a society concerned only with status. The other stories, “Poor Young Man: A Requiem” and “Hark, The Moaning Pond: A Grandmother’s Tale,” delve into a young man’s relationship with his father as the latter’s fortunes fade, and into the now-mature man’s attempts to come to grips with the death of his grandmother and what she symbolized. Abeysekara’s ability to evoke the sights and sounds of another time and place, and his skill in rendering the inner lives of his characters, make Bringing Tony Home a remarkable read. |
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barking began big house blue Bo tree Boralesgamuwa coconut Colombo coming crossed dark dead Depanama door Doreen and Felicia drawers edge Egodawatta esraj eyes Father feeling felt front garden gate girl going gone Grandmother gravel hand heard High Level Road high noon hills Holy Peak inside Kelani knew land Leicester Square light Lionel Little Train lived looked Lucie Manette Maharagama Moaning Pond morning Mother moving never night old road Old Spice once paddy field rail track railway rain Ratnapura remember rice paddies rubber trees scent screaming side silence Sinhala Sirisena sister sleep slope slowly smell someone somewhere sound Sri Pada station stood stopped story strip of paddy temple things told Tony tuck shop turned vaguely veranda village voice waiting walked wall wanted whistle Wijerama window wooden