THE RELUCTANT FINALIST

Anuk Arudpragasam isn’t one to be taken in by the hype of his Booker nomination

- Shreevatsa Nevatia

Anuk Arudpragasam is often suspicious of books and things that win big prizes. Had his second novel, A Passage North, not been shortlisted this year, he says he may not have fully grasped the Booker’s cultural significance. “I really wasn’t aware of the bells and whistles involved.” Though the nomination has introduced Arudpragasam to many more readers, giving him the confidence that he can now look at writing as both career and vocation, he remains wary of the limelight: “All I want to do is to read and write. These days, all I am able to do is answer emails. I’m a quiet person. I like to keep to myself.”

Published in 2016, Arud pragasam’s acclaimed first novel, The Story of a Brief Marriage, squeezed into the story of a single day and night the violence, drama and suffering of Sri Lanka’s 30-year civil war. In comparison, A Passage North seems to borrow from the author his quiet. The events of the novel could fit a single tweet. Krishan works with an NGO in Colombo. One evening, the everyday pattern of his life is interrupted by a phone call. Rani, his grandmother’s caregiver, has fallen down a well and died. As Krishan travels to the war-ravaged north for her funeral, he smokes and thinks about time, death and desire. Anjum, an activist he had an affair within India, is never far from his thoughts.

A Passage North

by Anuk Arudpragasam

HAMISH HAMILTON