The Interloper

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

Interlopers are what most of Maharaj’s characters are made to feel
that they have become. Centred on the lives of new immigrants to Canada
from the fictitious Caribbean island of Caura, there stories tell of a
variety of immigrant experiences, but all are suffused with bitterness,
loneliness, and disillusionment. After leaving their homeland due to
lack of opportunity, their romantic expectations of the north are dashed
by grim realities and broken dreams. In their new home, the characters
experience discrimination, disdain, and racial violence. They are merely
“exchanging contemporary prisons” and are “reduced to simple
survival.” Maharaj’s writing style ranges from the poetic quality of
“Snowfall” to the colloquial first-person Caribbean dialect of
“Bitches on All Sides.” These are sensitive and heartfelt stories
with which most readers will be able to identify in one way or another.