The Man-Eater of Punanai: A Journey of Discovery to the Jungles of Old Ceylon

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

In Sri Lanka there is a saying that when a son grows as tall as his
father’s shoulder, the boy is no longer a son, but a friend.
Christopher Ondaatje is still looking for his friend, his father.

Ondaatje was born to a pampered childhood in colonial Ceylon. In the
late 1940s he was sent away to school in England. As his family and
country unraveled together, Ondaatje chose not to return. His mother and
brother eventually joined him in England, but he never saw his father
again. At the age of 58, after building a career as a financier in
Canada, Ondaatje feels compelled to return to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to
confront . . . something.

Unfortunately, what begins as a heart-of-darkness pilgrimage never cuts
deeper than the second layer of skin. Despite supposedly soul-baring
declarations such as “I have always identified with predators,”
Ondaatje remains very much a mystery to the reader. He does not delve
into his own past so much as project himself onto others. He is, at one
time or another, his grandfather, his father, the man-eating leopard of
Punanai, and even the Englishman who killed it.

For better or worse, Ondaatje uses the anti-government Tamil Tigers
guerrillas as his own personal “man-eater.” They now control the
territory where the legendary leopard once prowled. He describes, albeit
out of context, the savage Tiger attacks on army patrols and civilians
alike. His journey toward their stronghold—to snap a picture and
interview one villager—is a test of his personal courage and
absurdity. Although the Tiger danger is very real, the only menace
Ondaatje actually encounters is from government soldiers and the
occasional road-hog elephant.

Ondaatje, more familiar to many as a Canadian businessman than as a
writer, has already authored three nonfiction books. In his latest work,
his writing and photographs are always creditable and sometimes
brilliant. This is a very good travel book, but as a journal of personal
discovery it needs work.