A review by soniek
This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War by Samanth Subramanian
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.