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ajju_315's review
5.0
Having visited the neighbouring country of Sri Lanka once, I was naturally interested to learn more about its past. Though I enjoyed my Sri Lanka trip and found it very beautiful, this book and its horrors were a revelation. I had heard about the Civil war but this was the first detailed account that I read. Intially, when I started reading this book I quit it as I thought it was a bit slow paced. In fact, the actual story about the LTTE and the civil war starts a bit late. But once the actual story starts it is just gripping. The author consolidates various anonymous and non anonymous interviews with the local population (some Sinhalese and many Tamilians) to give a bigger picture of the realities of post war SL. A must read if you are interested in Sri Lanka's post independence history!
soniek's review
5.0
If one tries to find the true reasons of the Sri Lankan Civil War, one would go down a rabbit hole of layers of perceived persecution & privilege, and original claims to the island by SL Tamils & Sinhalese. It was a botched up action of reclaiming what each group thought rightfully belonged to them. The result was extreme violence & violation of human rights. Only citizens took the beatings from all sides, forced to leave their homes & belongings, their children snatched from their homes, their dignity, sanity & their lives under constant attack. It must be terrible to be alienated by their own government.
This book tells their stories, how the long war ravaged ordinary people's homes & lives. It's poignant, yet necessary to hear their stories lest the passage of time absolves the perpetrators under the guise of lost memories. Personally I wasn't aware of the extreme polarization inside this seemingly peaceful country. Samanth shows how even a spiritual religion like Buddhism has fallen to the worldly pursuits of power & politics and swiftly embraces violence, completely opposite to the ways of Buddha & Ashoka. A must read book on one of the significant tragedies in history.
This book tells their stories, how the long war ravaged ordinary people's homes & lives. It's poignant, yet necessary to hear their stories lest the passage of time absolves the perpetrators under the guise of lost memories. Personally I wasn't aware of the extreme polarization inside this seemingly peaceful country. Samanth shows how even a spiritual religion like Buddhism has fallen to the worldly pursuits of power & politics and swiftly embraces violence, completely opposite to the ways of Buddha & Ashoka. A must read book on one of the significant tragedies in history.
daisydoolie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Religious bigotry
deepakchecks's review
5.0
A brilliantly narrated story on the Sri Lankan war. Samanth writes lucidly, with wit and empathy, as he goes around meeting people at the different spectrum of the war. They include some lapsed tamil tigers, a radical/racist monk, a moderate monk, non-tiger tamilians, muslims and so on. The book provides an empathic view of the people who had suffered violence due to the war - both from the Sri Lankan army as well as the Tamil tigers. It also remains a pointer to how similar the current Hindu/Indian nationalism is very similar to the Sinhalese nationalism exercise that has affected the island and made it a divided nation. A must read to anyone interested in the Sri Lankan dynamics.
nivi's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
At times this was tough to read but it is so important and it gave me a lot to think about. This is an amazing piece of unbiased, well-researched investigative journalism. It provides a chronological order of events starting from before the war began to the immediate aftermath. It does a good job of explaining all the political developments along the way whilst also detailing people's personal stories.
laura_cat's review
5.0
Devastating stories but beautiful writing. My good friend who is Sri Lankan recommended this to me as it profoundly moved her. Anything I say will undermine the power of this book — highly recommended reading.
nith's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Grief, and War
Minor: Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Stalking
susanj13's review
5.0
Having read and watched on screen (generously peppered with stereotypes) many fictional anecdotes related to the three-decades long conflict in Sri Lanka, I was quite keen to read a good journalistic account of the situation in a beautiful country that I've always wanted to visit. That coupled with the fact that I absolutely loved the author's first book "Following Fish", made this one very high on the TBR list. Did not regret it one bit.
.
This is exemplary writing that starts off by building up a non-chronological narrative on the history of the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict, and goes on to give some deeply moving and difficult personal anecdotes of survivors in its aftermath - civilians who lost limbs, loved ones, homes and any semblance of peace. I am not going to take sides here, and neither does the author. He offers a very unbiased perspective, addressing a number of influential factors, both cultural and social, to make the readers realise something we always knew - that war never ends on a happy note.
.
The second half of the book can be particularly difficult to read and I had to pace myself out for the sake of my sanity. The stories are harrowing and most of their lives will probably continue to be, with no hope of justice and resolution in sight in a number of cases. But the author has made a very brave effort (especially considering he is himself a Tamilian albeit Indian) to put these broken lives and stories into words with immense sensitivity. This is top notch journalism. I see myself recommending this book a lot in the future.
.
This is exemplary writing that starts off by building up a non-chronological narrative on the history of the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict, and goes on to give some deeply moving and difficult personal anecdotes of survivors in its aftermath - civilians who lost limbs, loved ones, homes and any semblance of peace. I am not going to take sides here, and neither does the author. He offers a very unbiased perspective, addressing a number of influential factors, both cultural and social, to make the readers realise something we always knew - that war never ends on a happy note.
.
The second half of the book can be particularly difficult to read and I had to pace myself out for the sake of my sanity. The stories are harrowing and most of their lives will probably continue to be, with no hope of justice and resolution in sight in a number of cases. But the author has made a very brave effort (especially considering he is himself a Tamilian albeit Indian) to put these broken lives and stories into words with immense sensitivity. This is top notch journalism. I see myself recommending this book a lot in the future.