This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2015
In the summer of 2009, the leader of the dreaded Tamil Tiger guerrillas was killed, bringing to a bloody end the stubborn and complicated civil war in Sri Lanka. For nearly thirty years, the war’s fingers had reached everywhere: into the bustle of Colombo, the Buddhist monasteries scattered across the island, the soft hills of central Sri Lanka, the curves of the eastern coast near Batticaloa and Trincomalee, and the stark, hot north. With its genius for brutality, the war left few places, and fewer people, untouched.
What happens to the texture of life in a country that endures such bitter conflict? What happens to the country’s soul? Samanth Subramanian gives us an extraordinary account of the Sri Lankan war and the lives it changed. Taking us to the ghosts of summers past, and to other battles from other times, he draws out the story of Sri Lanka today – an exhausted, disturbed society, still hot from the embers of the war. Through travels and conversations, he examines how people reconcile themselves to violence, how religion and state conspire, how the powerful become cruel, and how victory can be put to the task of reshaping memory and burying histories.
This Divided Island is a harrowing and humane investigation of a country still inflamed.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Atlantic Books, Main edition (4 Feb. 2016) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 336 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0857895974 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0857895974 |
| Dimensions | 13 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm |
by Asvajit
Having been in Sri Lanka during the early stages of the Sinhala/LTTE offensives, I started reading this book with heightened interest. I was not disappointed. Subramanian writes with eloquence and, I believe, with truthfulness of his investigation of those terrible times so far as they can be ascertained today by acquaintance with those who were there. What struck me particularly was how the pettiness and triviality of the personality of one man, aided and abetted by a few comrades in arms, escalated into a full-scale ethnic cleansing. I feel grateful to the author for casting light on these dark happenings, and pointing to how – yet again in the history of mankind – one criminal mind when taken seriously, can plunge a whole nation into hell. Recommended reading.
by Christopher Rickleton
An excellent accompaniment to a trip to Sri Lanka and good context for the thousands of Buddhist shrines that stud the country’s roadsides that might otherwise seem appealing features. Reading Subramanian’s book is a useful reminder that war can be waged in even the most peaceful-seeming religion’s name, not that this excuses the excessive cruelty of the Tamil Tigers which is thoroughly documented throughout.
If I have one criticism of the book it is a long-winded section on banged out cars in Jaffna, which although a good metaphor for the war, was ponderous and difficult to get through. The book as a whole is thoughtful but high-tempo journey through modern Sri Lanka, more often that not in a tuk-tuk, with some excellent and adventurous prose to embellish fine and balanced reporting.
It is also worth noting that Subramanian’s heritage as a Tamil from neighbouring India does nothing to obscure his objectivity while adding a vital layer of understanding and access to the people that sustained the heaviest losses in a horrendous conflict.
by Louise
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I didn’t know much about Sri Lankan history and this book has definitely got me interested in learning more.
by Arvind Manian
I am always cautious to label such books as “a great read”. The misery of millions – no matter how well written – is always a hard read. But this book captures the emotions of the victorious, the losers and the neutral people who were stuck in the middle of it all.
In an era where “travel writing” has become increasingly bland, the author manages to bring out the brutality of the conflict. War in some essence is almost the lesser evil, the after effects are harsher. This is a throwback to what “travel writing” should be all about, unbiased prose that tells stories from different perspectives.
by ericmitford
Samanth Subramanian’s previous book of reportage, the charming ‘Following Fish’, found him travelling India’s coastline researching the history and present state of fishing in various localities and sampling the diverse range of fish cuisine. As an accomplished journalist and now writer, he clearly has the necessary gift for getting people to talk to him and then transmitting their stories in easily digested and often elegant prose.
‘This Divided Island’ sees him deploying his talents to diagnose and describe a very different topic, the Sri Lankan civil war that raged on and off for many years between the controlling Sinhalese majority and the homeland-seeking Tamil Tigers. The war only finally ended with the total defeat of the Tigers in 2009, by which time both sides had committed numberless atrocities.
The author’s triumph is to let people from all ethnic and religious sides (Sri Lanka’s Muslims were caught in the crossfire) tell their tales in ways that permit analysis of the causes and outcomes of the war. Much of it is harrowing, not least the final chapter that looks at what has happened since peace was supposedly restored. Not much in the way of civil liberties and human rights to be had, it seems, though the election (after this book’s completion) of a new President by democratic means offers hope of better things to come.
Meanwhile, those who didn’t see family members killed before their eyes continue to search for them, hoping the ‘disappeared’ may still be discovered alive in some prison. It’s worth just saying that despite being an Indian from Tamil Nadu, Subramanian is as unsparing of the Tigers’ cruelty as he is of the authorities’ actions. A powerful and important book.
by Shrimathi de Silva
Takes you through the story at a quick pace whilst imparting vital information. Good style and easy to understand. I recommend it to those with an interest in the conflict in Sri Lanka read this.
by Kindle Customer
Beautifully and thoughtfully written. Painful and terrifying stories have been captured and delivered with complete tenderness on all sides of this conflict.
by observer100
I am not an expert on this topic, but this is an outstandingly well-written and well-conceived book. Balanced accounts of such complex conflicts are immensely difficult to create but comparing with extensive Channel 4 television reports in the UK it seems to me that Subramanian has made as creditable and humane an attempt as can be expected of any human being.
The Sri Lanka conflicts should be more widely known and are full of lessons relevant to mass conflict, mass killing and the paranoid ruthlessness of the leaders who thrive by them.