Rating: 5 out of 5

This was an engaging and thought provoking novel. I carried the strong, main character, Sashi, with me while I read it - always a good sign. .

The memoir-style writing really drew me in. As someone who reads a lot of memoirs, I liked how this approach made Sashi’s story feel immediate and personal, even though it’s fiction. It made me wonder what I’d do if I found myself in similar circumstances

Part way through I did a bit of research to see how much was made up - I knew practically nothing about this period of Sri Lankan history beyond having heard of the “Tamil Tigers” - and was pleased to find that while the characters and story are fiction, the background and historical events had been carefully researched.

This book reminded me of how a good novel can teach as well as move and entertain”


Highlighted passage:

“I did not know that the gangs of Sinhalese men who had gone down the streets seeking Tamil houses
and businesses had voter rolls, to identify us by ethnicity. I did not yet understand that it was organised.
I did not know how long it had taken the government to declare a curfew, to pretend to protect us. I did
not yet understand how many of my people, marked by language and mukkuthis and pottus, by a
thousand other tiny inheritances, never made it to any shelter and instead were slain in their homes, on
the streets, even on trains running through Colombo Fort Station. They died in places I had shopped and
walked and visited; they died in places I had never imagined people dying. They died in places beyond
Colombo when the violence spread. They died privately and publicly, with their families and separated
from them.

Originally posted to my Goodreads account