A review by metallicbranch
The Boat People by Sharon Bala

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a book so thoroughly in my wheelhouse-- I am constantly reading stories of immigration and migration, with my favorites being the ones that give me a sense of a place and history that I previously knew little about. This is a really stunning example of that-- a description of the experience of Tamil refugees that is harrowing and beautiful and human. I'm hard-pressed to critique it at all, but if there is a weak point, it's the kind of simplified villain of Grace Nakamura, a Canadian refugee adjudicator with few credentials other than being friendly with a xenophobic Minister. Grace is a combination "anti-terror mom" and descendent of Japanese internment camp survivors, and her unwillingness to criticize the government/see connections between her family's experience and that of the refugees whose lives she decides felt like it was laid on a little thick to me. I guess maybe she's supposed to represent a certain form of "Model Minority" ethic? But that didn't completely land for me, either. I appreciate the attempts to provide this charater with complexity-- she could have easily been written as a White woman with no countervailing motivations-- but she didn't feel completely real to me, all the same. But as might be clear, even though I wasn't convinced by this character, I understood the author's purpose for formulating her, and I respect what the character is doing for the overall narrative.

In general, an excellent book, very much worth my time and the space in my library.