Book review: Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of A Fist by Sunil Yapa

It was one of the most effective street protests in history. In 1999, more than 40,000 campaigners besieged the World Trade Organisation’s Ministerial Conference in Seattle, and successfully derailed a crucially important set of meetings.

Writer Sunil Yapa wasn’t there – he was studying economic geography at Penn State University on the other side of America at the time. But his dad was a senior Sri Lankan bureaucrat who had worked for the World Bank, so he watched the unfolding events with interest.

His novel – it usually takes a few years to give recent history its proper perspective – explores the reasons for the protesters’ anger, as well as the shifting viewpoints of the many participants.

From a supposedly non-violent eco-campaigner with a nasty temper, to brutal and ignorant cops who are nonetheless capable of great love, Yapa’s lyrical prose brings the conflicted internal lives of a multitude of characters vividly to the page.