The Honeyman and the Hunter by Neil Grant
Allen and Unwin, 2019. ISBN: 9781760631871.
(Age: 15+) Highly recommended. Themes: Culture; Family
relationships; Cross-cultural identity; Beliefs; Dreams and reality;
Indian Australians; Decisions and their consequences; Identity;
Death and dying. Neil Grant writes with great elegance and an
impressive light touch in this poignant and stirring story of a
teen, Rudra, who is coming to grips with his place in Australian
society and the world. Rudra is the son of Cord Solace, a hard
Aussie fisherman and Nayna Solace, his Indian wife. Nayna met Cord
while she was pursuing University study in Australia and her
relationship with Cord is now, ironically, frayed - the consequence
of his emotional abuse. Nayna is no longer treated as an intelligent
woman, and their financial circumstances are fraught. Family tension
is almost palpable and Rudra is also impacted by his father's
heavy-handed manner.
Rudra is trapped in a strange land where his appearance identifies
him as a 'foreigner', and yet he knows very little of his mother's
homeland. His best friend is an 'honest-as-the-day-is-long' Aussie
teenager, exploring surfing and speaking truths that always push
boundaries but never seem to offend. He also has an important
listening ear in his father's dirt-poor 'salt-of-the-earth'
deckhand. When Rudra's Indian grandmother (Didima) arrives, the
stories she tells of his Indian forbears weaves a connection to the
hidden story of his Australian ancestry with a mystical quality and
some dream-like and spiritual overtones. Her stay and the sadness
that follows, awakens the possibility of connecting to his Indian
heritage and eventually leads him to discover the cultural maelstrom
of West Bengal itself. This thrusts him into an adventure to restore
what has been damaged over generations, but the risks are high.
With Indian Honeymen on sunken islands, hunters who kill tigers and
the confronting nature of Indian society and cultural and spiritual
beliefs, flowing in and under the wash of the ocean and the capture
of ocean creatures in difficult circumstances, this is a book that
is so much more than a simple narrative. Metaphor and lyrical
language and the cross-cultural understanding of different cultures
and belief systems adds to the power and intensity of this book. And
yet it is essentially a story of the difficulty of growing into
one's own skin and knowing who you really are. On many levels this
is a story that should be savoured for readers who like to think! It
would make a brilliant book for Senior English students to study and
discuss, and it is wonderful to have a book for Indian Australians
to connect with. Teacher
notes are available.
Carolyn Hull