Kyi
May Kaung's Wolf is a novel of
astonishing depth. Following the life of
a student leader of Burma's 1988 pro-democracy uprisings, it touches the most
profound questions of the quest for freedom, amidst the alternative demands of
love and loyalty in a life lived in extremis. Wolf is simultaneously exciting, suspenseful, poignant and deeply
moving. Long after you finish reading, the characters will stay with you, as
will the insights it imparts.
Wolf works
firstly because K. M. Kaung is a great writer.
It also works because Kaung herself lived through many of the events
described. That the novel is a work of such integrity and wisdom is no little
due to the fact that, in so many ways, it shines a mirror on its author and her
times.
Sean Turnell, Burma Expert, author Fiery Dragons: Banks, Moneylenders and Microfinance
in Burma (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press), 2009, available on
Amazon.
