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Art & Books Books

The Amazing Absorbing Boy

THE AMAZING ABSORBING BOY by Rabindranath Maharaj (Knopf), 326 pages, $29.95 cloth. Rating: NNNN


Think you know Toronto? Then try getting another perspective. You won’t find a fresher one than in The Amazing Absorbing Boy.

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When his mother dies, comic-book-obsessed Sammy leaves Trinidad to live with his strangely distant dad in Regent Park. Everything about his new city fascinates the teenager, and he dives into his experience with eyes and ears wide open.

Thanks to his generous uncle, he arrives with a few hundred dollars. This gives him time to listen in on the conversations among the immigrants hanging out at Coffee Time, travel the subway just for the fun of it and head into the museums. Along the way he finds work pumping gas, helping in an antique shop and clerking at the Queen Bee video store, while also managing to get a high school diploma.

The title chapter is a bravura piece of writing. It could stand alone as a terrific short story about a young boy in Trinidad whose skin disease has forced him to hide in his home near the swamp, where Sammy visits and shares his passion for comic books.

But the book’s title could also refer to Sammy himself, who takes in T.O. like a sponge. Listening in on a group of Sri Lankans, Sammy thinks they’re going to the zoo when they talk about “Tigers.”

Typical of Rabindranath Maharaj’s facility for description, Sammy says two men from Afghanistan harden their words as if placing a shield around each sentence. And Sammy is an expert witness to the recent dismantling of the Regent Park complex.

The narrative could use a little more tension beyond the mystery of Sammy’s father’s almost daily disappearances.

But that’s a small complaint about a very big book. Highly recommended.

Maharaj reads with Elizabeth Kostova and Beth Powning on Wednesday (February 10) as part of the Harbourfront Reading Series. See Readings.

Write Books at susanc@nowtoronto.com

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