TWO SHORT STORIES BY ROMESH GUNESEKERA

Readers Notes for two stories by Romesh Gunesekera: 'Carapace' and 'A House in the Country'

Who wrote these pieces?

Romesh Gunesekera was born in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He grew up there and in the Philippines, moving to England in 1971. These two stories are taken from his first book, Monkfish Moon (1992). His first novel, Reef (1994) was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Guardian Fiction Prize. It won the Yorkshire Post Book Award for Best First Work. The Sandglass (1998), Gunesekera’s second novel won a BBC Asia Award. Heaven’s Edge (2002), is set on an island in the near future. His latest book The Match was published in 2006.

Click here for more biographical details, a bibliography and a critical perspective of Romesh Gunesekera.  

What are they and what are they about?

Both of these pieces are short stories of less than 5,000 words. Set in Sri Lanka, they are written in simple, accessible language. A nameless young woman, torn between her attraction to Vijay, a cook at the beach, and her mother’s desire that she should marry a man of means who will take her off to a rich life in Australia, narrates 'Carapace'. In 'A House in the Country', we meet Ray, who has returned to Colombo after living in London, and Siri, who acts as his servant as well as renovating Ray’s house. Around them, the violence of civil conflict erupts.

You can download the stories on the BritLit section of the Teaching English website - Carapace and A House in the Country - along with teaching materials.

What kind of read are they?

Although set in Sri Lanka, these stories present us with the details of individual lives that could be placed anywhere in the world. 'Carapace' takes the eternal theme of a young woman responding to possibilities around her. She is both attracted and irritated by Vijay’s casual good nature, especially when he seems unable to be jealous of Anura Perera, a potential rival. Romesh Gunesekera uses images from the sea to describe Vijay: 'he always seems about to burst into a laugh. And when he does the whole sea seems to crease up'; 'His fingernails are like sea-shells'; 'his mouth…open like a gulping fish'. These place him firmly in the sensual, natural world, where things drift aimlessly, enjoying the beauty of the moment. The young woman’s mother, on the other hand, plans things meticulously, consults astrologers, tidies and polishes. She has a serious intent, which is to see her daughter married to Anura Perera, with his Mitsubishi car and the ability to remove her daughter from “the disturbances” and give her a comfortable life in Australia.

The disturbances are much more intrusive in 'A House in the Country', for Ray’s house in Colombo is surrounded by the uneasy silence of a curfew right at the start of the story. In this powerful story, we learn that Ray has returned from a secure life in London, to retrieve his past, embodied in the house left to him by his uncle.  For the past two years, Ray has been determinedly fixing the house and making it secure, relying on Siri to arrange everything and to do much of the refurbishment. Seeing himself as worldly and experienced, Ray seeks to raise Siri from servility and a life of subsistence to an independent life in the country. In the end, forces much stronger than he had anticipated defeat his self-belief. Ray witnesses the violence in Colombo when he discovers that his local shop has been burnt down. At the same time, Siri hears of the murder of his brother in the country and wants to know 'Where is a good place?' 

When we’ve read it, how could we structure our discussion?

• Do you prefer a story to be written in the first person, like 'Carapace', or in the third person, like 'A House in the Country'?
• Romesh Gunesekera is most lyrical when referring to the natural world.  Which images in the two stories did you like most?  How does he use these images to suggest the changes that have occurred in Sri Lanka?
• In 'Carapace', the conflict is not an external one, between the young woman and her mother, but lies within the young woman herself, torn between two possible futures. Do you think that this conflict is resolved at the end of the story?
• In 'A House in the Country' Ray is trying to protect his future by building a secure house. He also wants to create another house, with Siri, in the country. Do you think that his plans will ever succeed? Explore the way in which the symbol of the house works in this story.
• Ray has made a decision to return to his roots, but, he realises 'it was never possible to go back to exactly the same things, but at the same time he felt the old world never quite passes away.' Do you feel that this is borne out by the story? Do you think that being exiled from a country gives a writer a different perspective?

Reading group tip

While it is useful to be aware of some of the background to the locality and time in which stories are set, Romesh Gunesekera has made it clear that he does not see location as a major issue. It may be that some of the group want to concentrate on the particular details of the situations in the two stories. Fiction does not work in the same way as, say, newspaper or magazine articles that might well cover the same ground. A reading group provides a chance to explore the deeper and universal insights into human experience that fiction can bring to us.

If we enjoyed this, what other writing might appeal to us?

Other books and stories set in Sri Lanka:
Shyam Selvadurai: Funny Boy
Shyam Selvadurai: Cinnamon Gardens
Michael Ondaatje: Anil’s Ghost
Karen Roberts: The Flower Boy

Other books and stories by Romesh Gunesekera are listed here. Books by Romesh Gunesekera on the encompass website.

Read the opening section of Gunesekera’s new book The Match

British Council Sri Lanka has created a website for new and established writers to share their work Writeclique.

Other books and stories of love and friendship in places and times of conflict:
Kamila Shamsie: Kartography (a story with its roots in Karachi during the civil war of 1971)
Amitav Ghosh: The Glass Palace - set in Burma (Myanmar) from the times of the British invasion to the Second World War
Bernard MacLaverty: Cal (set in the troubles of Ulster)