cover image Bringing Tony Home

Bringing Tony Home

Tissa Abeysekara, . . North Atlantic/Scala, $14.95 (211pp) ISBN 978-1-55643-757-1

In the fine U.S. debut of Sri Lankan filmmaker and author Abeysekara, who writes in English, four contemplative stories offer four middle-aged narrators' childhood reflections, with richly varied results. In the award-winning title novella, a 10-year-old's “desperately poor” family leaves behind the loyal family dog, Tony, while moving to a smaller home. Sent back on errands a few days later, the boy makes a daylong journey on foot to bring Tony back with him; narrated by the boy in middle age, it's an impressionistic, affecting cascade of memories. In “Poor Young Man: A Requiem,” the narrator puzzles over his late father's contradictions, and the reasons he rejected the old man. In “Elsewhere: Something Like a Love Story,” a man realizes the resonance of his first childhood love, and how profoundly he failed her. “Hark, the Moaning Pond: A Grandmother's Tale,” the collection's strangest and most remarkable tale, roots itself in the narrator's relationship with his grandmother and unexpectedly blooms into a stunning reflection on Sri Lanka's mythic past. These multilayered stories, worth repeat reading, make a welcome introduction to Abeysekara and his homeland. (Nov.)