Product Description

The story of love in a spoiled paradise is told by Triton, who at the age of 11, escapes from his family and goes to work as houseboy to Mister Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed by swamps, sea movements and the island's disappearing reef.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #553165 in Books
• Published on: 1995-04-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

To "those who keep the flame alive from night to night."
Few readers will be able to resist the charm of Triton, who, eleven years old at the midpoint of the 20th century, becomes a member of Ranjan Salgado's Sri Lankan household as a houseboy. His life under the demanding and belligerent older servant Joseph is a challenge, and Gunesekera delightfully conveys Triton's point of view, skillfully revealing an 11-year-old's sensibilities and imagination as Triton envisions Joseph being brought low or stricken by disaster, while his own heroic acts save his master. As Triton gets older and acquires more and more responsibilities, Gunesekera reveals a character of unwavering conscientiousness whose personal devotion to Salgado and admiration for his intellectual accomplishments are absolute.

Reef is not just a story, however, as fascinating as that may be. It is a delicate allegory of the small changes which can bring cataclysmic results to a society, just as the coral reef which Ranjan Salgado studies is "very delicate. It has survived aeons, but even a small change in the immediate environment...could kill it." With the gap between the educated and the "underclass" in Sri Lanka very wide, and portentous changes occurring to the country politically, the reader is constantly reminded that, like the reef, "if the structure is destroyed...then the whole thing will go." As Salgado's love for Nili makes him more and more self-centered and less altruistic, and as political movements inspired by other countries become more aggressive, the "small changes in the immediate environment" begin for Triton.

In prose that shimmers with the light of the tropics and the scent of flowers, the reader is absorbed into the Sri Lankan jungle and sea, watching as the outside world propels along the small changes which may devour everything--the jungle, the sea, and the cultural fabric of which they have all been part for eons. As as one reads this remarkable novel, one joins with Triton and Salgado in yearning for peace, the "twilight when the forces of darkness and the forces of light are evenly matched and in balance [and] there is nothing to fear. No demons, no troubles, no carrion. An elephant swaying to a music of its own." Mary Whipple

Reef is an excellent story, worth the time of any reader.
Reef, by Romesh Gunesekera is an excellent story about human relationships and the coming of age through the loss of innocence. The story is told through the eyes of Triton, an 11-year-old houseboy in Sri Lanka and the changes his life goes through during the years he works for Mr. Salgado. The text is very simply worded making it a light enjoyable read. The extensive attention given to detail in this book provides the reader with a greater understanding of what life was like in Sri Lanka in the 1960's and 1970's. The lightness of the wording however, does not mean that there is nothing of value in the story. Gunesekera hits on many themes and provides the reader with many opportunities to take a closer look at what he is exposing about the parallels between Triton's life and the political upheavals occurring in Sri Lanka. Reef can be read in a few days but will leave the reader thinking about it for a long time to come.

Interesting subtexts - very foody
After a short break in Sri Lanka, as someone of dual nationality with Sri Lanka I was enveloped by this book which I read in quite a short time. It begins well, but I found so much of it quite morbid and fearful, both at the level of political/terrorist violence and at a sexual level.

The author's trademark topic is food which is well treated in his short stories (read Monkfish Moon by him for more) and really well served up in Reef. This and many other exotic features such as wildlife, native patois are obvious highlights and selling points in the book. Dialogues are sketchy, incomplete and we can fill in the missing words even if the degree of articulateness is lacking or obtuse.

There are dark, brooding undercurrents and Mr Salgado ultimately is a failed, lonely guy - in romance and in his job (though the romantic side is incomplete - by the end and there may be reconcilliation). His failure is because of the nature of Sri Lanka itself apart from anything personal. The way that the governments there cannot be expected to protect people or do any real good and the way the country swings from one extreme to another. This is captured in the dialogue.

There are also dark sexual overtones/undertones in this book. Things to do with homosexuality, male bonding, fear psychoses, violence. Sexual references are covert and psychological - e.g., there is a greatly distorted story of Angulimala, more violent than the original describing a necklace of fingers, but in a subtext, penises. True to Sri Lankan style, we don't hear much beyond a couple gazing at each other and finding comfort in company. At the end there is a violent break up, perhaps too violent.

I am concerned that the impression of Sri Lanka conveyed may be overcritical, brooding and dark. I think the Man Eaters of Punanai by C. Ondaatje, conveys something of Sri Lanka's troubles and potential treasures without any brooding sentiment.

This book was dark, depressing and aromatic. Good to have read its limpid, chatty and at times disturbing/churning prose.