The Picture of Nobody

by Rabindranath Maharaj

Tommy lives with his family in Ajax, a small town close to Toronto. His parents are Ismaili Muslims who immigrated to Canada before Tommy was born. Tommy, a shy, chubby seventeen-year-old, feels like an outsider. The arrest of a terrorist group in Toronto turns Tommy's world upside down. No one noticed him before. Now, he experiences the sting of racism at the local coffee shop where he works part-time. A group of young men who hang out at the coffee shop begin to bully him. In spite, Tommy commits an act of revenge against the group's ringleader.

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Rabindranath Maharaj was born in the fifties in South Trinidad. He received a B.A., M.A. and Diploma in Education from the University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine. In Trinidad he worked as a teacher and as a columnist for the Trinidad Guardian. In the early 1990s Maharaj moved to Canada and in 1993 he completed a second M.A. at the University of New Brunswick. Since 1994 he has been living in Ajax, Ontario and teaching high school there.Maharaj is now well recognized in Canada for his published fiction and short stories, which tend to deal with everyday situations that challenge and stimulate the lives of men and women from Indo-Caribbean communities in Canada and in Trinidad.
Both the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star recognized his literary worth when his book, The Lagahoo’s Apprentice, was published. A previous novel, Homer in Flight, had been nominated for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award.
Two collections of short stories, The Book of Ifs and Buts and The Interloper were nominated for a Regional Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book.
His most recent novel A Perfect Pledge, published in 2005, seems to engage some of the issues and themes that Vidia Naipaul, who was also born in Trinidad, tackled in his earlier novels. Maharaj’s approach, however, is less scathing and dismissive. Although he obviously sees the shortcomings and inadequacies of life in this “now for now” immigrant society of Trinidad, he treats his characters with greater sympathy and with humane understanding.
Rabindranath Maharaj is also one of the founding editors of Lichen a literary magazine that in his own words: “ferrets out new voices, throws the spotlight on recognized ones, and adds to the broth a distinct flavour: a mix of city and country, of tradition and innovation.”

Reviews

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for young readers, about a shy 17-year-old who experiences racism, set in Ajax, Ontario. The family was originally from India, then Uganda, then Australia, then Canada (starting in New Brunswick and then Ontario). A quick read, but there are a lot of themes here to explore, about bullying and racism, family migrations around the globe, and about choosing who you want to be and how you want to respond to adversity.

[Joanne-in-Canada · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow moving and, I think, too subtle for an ESL novel. Too many characters' actions were never fully explained. The father's Shakespearean quotes are pretty challenging for native English speakers!

[Qaali · Rating 5 out of 5]

gooood book

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the plot just didn't have much to it... If the characters actions were wrapped up a bit more it could have gained a star!