The Unyielding Clamor of the Night: A Novel

By Neil Bissoondath

A young man of privileged upbringing leaves his home in the prosperous north of his island nation to teach in the devastated south, where a civil war festers. Over the course of several months, in which he befriends many of the town's people and becomes teacher not only to the town's children but to the enlisted men of the local army station, he loses his faith in and hope for the future. The Unyielding Clamour of the Night is a sympathetic novel that enters the mind and soul of a character to reveal the brutal and lasting affects of acts of violence, and how violence only begets violence.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1896951872
• ISBN13: 9781896951874
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Cormorant Books
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A tough ending, but recommended read

A well written novel. It is engaging. It is not fast paced, but it also does not plod. As a previous reviewer stated, if you are looking for someone to cheer for, this is not the book. Initially, the ending of the novel was frustrating too me. However, as I have thought since about the book, I have been fascinated by the open-endedness and the ambiguity. Sometimes life doesn't have heroes. Sometimes individuals feel like they are forced to choose one side or another, with both sides being unsatisfying. This book captures this dilemma.

A stark, evocative novel of goodwill and war evolves.

Arun has left his privileged home on a Southeast Asian island to teach in an area where a civil war is tearing apart daily village life. Motivated by idealism, Arun adopts a life of poverty and dedicates himself to improving the lives of others, but even his optimism and hopes are shattered by problems trying to educate the village's children, and when the war hits too close to home he must confront long-buried secrets and assess his life anew. A stark, evocative novel of goodwill and war evolves. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch