Bamboo People Book Report

In Bamboo People, a fictional novel set in modern-day Burma (now Myanmar), the author, Mitali Perkins, explores the conflict between the Burmese and Karenni along the Burma-Thailand border, as well as the ideas of power, forgiveness, friendship, and morality. Perkins tells the narrative through the use of the simple present tense and two different narrators; two boys on opposing sides of the conflict, one Karenni and one Burmese. These boys experience conflicts of their own and eventually their tales meet and they reside together in a Karenni camp which is made of and incarcerated by bamboo, hence the title Bamboo People.
Born in Kolkata, India, Perkins spent her childhood years moving to different places around the world such as Ghana, London, Cameroon, and California, where she eventually settled down. After graduating from her local high school, Perkins would go on to attend Stanford University to study political science as well as public policy at UC Berkeley. Following her collegiate life, she worked as a teacher and traveled back to home country, India, where she met her current husband, Robert Perkins. She would later have twin sons and live in Thailand for three years, during which she visited and spoke to Karenni refugees and became …show more content…
Perkins uses two boys on opposing sides of the conflict to illustrate this foreign and national conflict’s different effect, as well as to provide sub-plots and also to depict both the Burmese and Karenni. Her employment of present tense, easy text, as well as narrators and a unique switch in the middle of the book provides a literal sense to the novel and makes for a fast, enticing read. Following the tumultuous narrative, Perkins leaves the reader unsure of the the situation of this conflict in Burma, however greatly assured that in the moral conflict between human kindness and patriotism, kindness is