Release date: January 3rd, 2023
Genre: Historical Fiction
How I heard about this book: I read about Celeste Ng praising this book and then got an ARC from NetGalley.
Backdrop: Sri Lankan civil war and genocide
Intended Audience: Adult
Rating: 5 stars
Until I read the Author's Note at the end of this book, I thought this was a personal, albeit fictionalized, account of her time during the Sri Lankan civil war. It isn't - it's apparently a fictional account researched over very many years and written in the first person!
Any author who can make you think that is a force to reckon with! I can't wait to read more of her books in future.
The title of the book resonated with me in many places, but at the end of it, I didn't feel it. Mind you, I felt the book, oh I SO felt the book, but the title seemed a bit unjustified to me at the end.
I don't really want to write about the plot of the book - you can read that on any platform that discusses books. I do, however, want to write about how I felt when I read it 3 days flat.
I cried, sighed, and quivered... This book was so great that I ended up highlighting several portions in it. It has been written in the first person voice, but took into account so many perspectives, and didn't shy away from expressing them and providing valuable insights through them too.
When you read books like this, you are forced to examine your privilege, forced to contemplate the ridiculousness of this whole power game and the mercilessness of the human race. And yet, in the face of this sea of monstrosity, little paper boats of hope and help and kindness stand tall. Are they enough though?
Ganeshananthan writes beautifully, piercingly, and in a very well-paced way. She creates a brilliant world - there was a little more show than tell, but it wasn't jarring. It wasn't opportunistic. It wasn't gimicky. It was just really really worth reading!
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