The Wait, and Other Stories (Paperback)

"The Wait and Other Stories" is a collection of 11 stories displaying a wide range of settings (Australia, Sri Lanka, Germany and Canada) as well as themes. They deal mostly with Sri Lankans, at home and overseas, in that in-between chameleon landscape where most migrants and ex-colonials live, trying to decide what to throw away and what to keep. Among other things, the stories are about a young woman who doesn't take no for an answer from the ocean, an ex-Buddhist monk who wants to set up camp permanently on a bridge, virtual curries contributing to a marital breakdown, a glacier-cold marriage warmed by prosperity, a painting that metamorphoses into something third-worldy, a dog of uncertain ethnicity called Chuck and a teacher having the time of her life at a funeral. The smoothly flowing stories are well-crafted, entertaining and the characters come alive with all the complexities and vitality of the culturally hybrid. Though the central themes of the stories are serious, sombre, and in some cases, traumatic, they are told with a good deal of humour and an eye for the absurdities and ironies of life.