Yasmine Gooneratne, author of The Sweet and Simple Kind, was inspired by her own personal experiences of growing up in Ceylon in the 1940s and the 1950s when writing this epic literary novel. She portrays with detail and intimacy the lasting friendship between two young cousins, and the novel becomes a gripping family drama that’s set against the turbulent backdrop of Ceylon preparing for independence and its subsequent evolution into Sri Lanka. The girls, Tsunami and Latha, have to fight hard for their own personal freedoms, and so become a reminder to women everywhere that life, although sometimes sweet, is never simple.
The Sweet and Simple Kind was shortlisted for the International Impac Dublin Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. The Sunday Times said, ‘There is much to commend … in [Yasmine Gooneratne’s] obvious integrity. As one of her characters comments, “Jane Austen’s observation of society was part critical, part amused”. That quality is evident here.’
And the Sunday Business Post said, ‘Sensitively observed, The Sweet and Simple Kind is at once a bold novel of national consciousness and a tender tale of family a friendship.’
We think that The Sweet and Simple Kind is such a wonderful book for reading groups that we've put together these questions and discussion starters for reading groups to explore.
Questions And Discussion Starters On The Sweet and Simple Kind For Reading Groups
1. The character of Tsunami Wijesinha portrays ‘the wearing down of a vibrant personality through relentless family pressure’. (Rajiva Wijesinha). Discuss this statement.
2.‘A skilful blend of fact and fiction’. (Anne Abayasekara). What is ‘factual’ in this novel, and what is fictional’?
3.‘The personae in Yasmine’s novel are sometimes described in great detail (including the artist who’s been given my surname); dot by dot, shade by shade”.(Robert van Kuyk) Who is/was the artist to whom the novelist has given this Dutch reviewer’s surname? Are there other characters in the novel whom you recognize as having been possibly based on real-life people?
4. Her technique is “an effective sort of pointillisme, that painting technique used by Seurat and Pissarro. It means that you use little dots of colour to compose a picture, much as our new flat-screens with their pixels”. (Robert van Kuyk) What other artistic terms might be useful in discussing the author’s technique in writing this novel?
5. “She records and preserves the beliefs, actions, feelings and moods of an entire generation”. (Shelagh Goonewardene). Does this novel present an accurate portrait of 1950s Ceylon?
6. “In tracing the lives of so many people in this novel of epic proportions she achieves a remarkably sustained feat of sensibility, imagination and memory. They mature with an inward integrity that is totally convincing”. (Shelagh Goonewardene) Which characters ‘totally convince’ you of their ability to mature or change?
7. “Tsunami”. Are the reasons given in the novel for giving a character this name convincing? What other reasons might the novelist have had for naming her in this way?
8. Is there a place for satire in fiction? Are there elements in this novel that strike you as satirical? Indeed, even “over the top”? If so, what are they?
9. Helen Rutnam Wijesinha and Gerard van Kuyk are both accomplished artists, Tsunami is writing a novel, Rowland and Moira Wijesinha are generally regarded (and regard themselves) as knowledgeable art critics. Does the presentation of these characters reveal anything significant about the place of creativity (and especially of creative women) in the world of this novel?
10. On page 604, Herbert Wijesinha describes his cousin, the politician Rowland Wijesinha, as ‘a man beyond definition’. Would you agree with him? How would you ‘define’ Rowland?
11. Yasmine Gooneratne has said in an interview that every incident in this novel is based on an event that actually happened: in her life, or in the lives of people she knew. Do you believe her? Of which incident(s), if any, would you say: “Oh, no! That could never have happened in Ceylon!”
12. Does the title of the novel describe the personality of Latha Wijesinha? If not, why not?
13. Marriage (especially the marrying-off of daughters) is an issue in The Sweet and Simple Kind. Are there any happy marriages in the novel?
14. Does a novel need to have a hero? Examine the claims of Daniel Rajaratnam, Sujit Roy, Chris Wijesinha and Anupam Munasinghe to the title of ‘hero’. Any other male characters that you would nominate?
15. Halfway through the novel, Latha asks her fellow-undergraduates if they believe that "there ever will come a time in our country when race and caste will actually cease to matter?" Does Yasmine Gooneratne’s novel look forward to such a time?
More about author Yasmine Gooneratne:
Yasmine Gooneratne was an Emeritus Professor of English and Post-Colonial Literature, and in a lengthy career was published widely, including books on Jane Austen, Alexander Pope, Leonard Woolf and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, as well as poetry and fiction. In recognition of her contribution to international scholarship, she was awarded the Order of Australia, the Marjorie Barnard Award for Literary Fiction and, most recently, the title of Sahithya Ratna (‘Jewel of Literature’) for Lifetime Achievement by the Government of Sri Lanka. She lives in Sri Lanka.
Posted 27/01/2010 13:30:22 by Emily Rowland with 0 comments.
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