The Unyielding Clamor of the Night by Neil Bissoondath

Description

Bibliographic Details

• Author: Neil Bissoondath
• Title: The Unyielding Clamor of the Night
• Publisher: ‎ Bloomsbury Publishing; First U.S. Edition (August 8, 2006)
• Language: ‎ English
• Format: Hardcover – 349 pages
• ISBN-10: 1596911972
• ISBN-13: 978-1596911970
• Item Weight: ‎ 1.15 pounds
• Dimensions: ‎ 5.71 x 1.21 x 8.53 inches
• Book Condition: Used – Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Edition: First U.S. Edition

Synopsis:

A mesmerizing novel about the brutal and lasting effects of poverty and violence.

Arun, a young man of privileged background, leaves his home in the prosperous north of his Southeast Asian island nation to teach in the devastated south, where a civil war between the military and rebel insurgents profoundly affects daily life. Idealistic and driven by a need to give meaning to his life, Arun relinquishes the trappings of wealth to dedicate himself to improving the lot of the "2 percenters," as the country's southern population is called. Over the course of several months he befriends some of the local people–Jaisaram, the local butcher, and his daughter Anjani, who reads to her father from romance novels; Kumarsingh, a "go-getting" entrepreneur; Seth, an American-trained army captain stationed at the local base; and various pupils.

In Omeara, however, nothing is as it seems; everyone has secrets and truth is elusive. At the village school, attendance is meager and irregular. The only students who attend are those who, damaged by the conflict, are incapable of working in the fields. Surrounded by poverty and the constant threat of violence, Arun's optimism is eventually depleted and frustration with educating the village's schoolchildren overwhelms him. When violence finally touches him personally, he is forced to confront basic truths about his friends, his family, his country and, most wrenchingly, himself.

About the Author:

Neil Devindra Bissoondath OC CQ (born April 19, 1955, in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago) is a Trinidadian-Canadian author who lives in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He is a noted writer of fiction. He is an outspoken critic of Canada's system of multiculturalism and is the nephew of authors V.S. Naipaul and Shiva Naipaul, grandson of Seepersad Naipaul, grandnephew of Rudranath Capildeo and Simbhoonath Capildeo, and cousin of Vahni Capildeo.

Bissoondath attended St. Mary's College in Trinidad and Tobago, where he was born in Arima. Although he was from a Hindu tradition, he was able to adapt to a Catholic high school. He describes himself as not very religious and distrustful of dogma. In the early 1970s, political upheaval and economic collapse had created a climate of chaos and violence in the island nation.

In 1973, at the age of 18, Bissoondath left Trinidad and settled in Ontario, where he studied at York University and received a Bachelor of Arts in French in 1977. He then taught English and French at the Inlingua School of Languages and the Toronto Language Workshop. He won the McClelland and Stewart award and the National Magazine award, both in 1986, for the short story "Dancing". Bissoondath was interviewed by Ali Lakhani in the journal Rungh about his views on writing and life.