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This Divided Island
This Divided Island: Life, Death, and the Sri Lankan War | Samanth Subramanian
5 posts | 3 read | 2 reading | 8 to read
Samanth Subramanian has written about politics, culture, and history for the New York Times and the New Yorker. Now, Subramanian takes on a complex topic that touched millions of lives in This Divided Island. In the summer of 2009, the leader of the dreaded Tamil Tiger guerrillas was killed, bringing to an end the civil war in Sri Lanka. For nearly thirty years, the war's fingers had reached everywhere, leaving 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? Subramanian gives us an extraordinary account of the Sri Lankan war and the lives it changed. Taking us to the ghosts of summers past, he tells the story of Sri Lanka today. Through travels and conversations, he examines how people reconcile themselves to violence, how the powerful become cruel, and how victory can be put to the task of reshaping memory and burying histories.
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Bookworm_97
Bookworm_97
This Divided Island: Life, Death, and the Sri Lankan War | Samanth Subramanian
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Starting my weekend

4 likes1 stack add
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Redheadrambles
Redheadrambles
This Divided Island: Life, Death, and the Sri Lankan War | Samanth Subramanian
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June already, I can't believe it. I think I am tracking well on my twin goals of 52 books read for the year and completion of #readharder2017. But May was a really odd and funky reading month. "This Divided Island" was the standout. I was disappointed to spend so long on books I didn't enjoy, however I continue to be impressed by American Gods the TV series ?. Hoping June shapes up better.
#Mayreads

ClairesReads Good work! I'm trying to refocus in #readharder2017 right now. 8y
17 likes1 comment
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batsy
batsy
This Divided Island: Life, Death, and the Sri Lankan War | Samanth Subramanian
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These are books about the #war in Sri Lanka. The blue ones are nonfiction, & the other two are novels. My family is Sri Lankan Tamil & were originally from Jaffna; my grandparents moved to Malaysia. Books about the war hits close to home. The only one I've read is Anil's Ghost, an elegiac, slow-burn of a book. Ondaatje's prose is exquisite. Need to be in the right frame of mind to get around to reading the others. #maybookflowers @RealLifeReading

MayJasper Very painful I'm sure 8y
Cinfhen I can imagine...all these titles look so interesting and I'm afraid I don't know much about Sri Lanka - I need to remedy that! 8y
batsy That it is, @Mayjasper... And @Cinfhen I think Ondaatje and Shyam Selvadurai are good if you're looking for novels
[tagged book]Funny Boy
8y
See All 19 Comments
Cinfhen Thanks @batsy I just stacked it! 8y
LeahBergen I loved Anil's Ghost and Funny Boy. Have you read his
[tagged book]The Hungry Ghosts
8y
batsy @LeahBergen No, I haven't. Have you? What did you think? I've been meaning to read it but it's fallen to the wayside as I add a hundred new titles to my TBR each week as I browse Litsy 😂 8y
LeahBergen @batsy Umm... it's sitting on my shelf, unread. 😂 8y
batsy @LeahBergen 😂 Yay for the unread books 🙌 8y
RaimeyGallant Thank you for the recommendations. :) 8y
batsy @RaimeyGallant You're welcome 🙂 8y
Redheadrambles @batsy oh I am so interested in your opinion on "This Divided Land" as an outsider who knew very little about the conflict I thought he handled it pretty well. Certainly need to be in the right frame on mind for it. Will need to look into these other books you list. 8y
batsy @Redheadrambles I heard that the Rohini Mohan book is also very good! There's no excuse for me putting it off any longer, I should read these. 😕 8y
Redheadrambles @batsy you have reminded me I need to get to Anvils ghost at some point. Great Litsy fed by the way ! 8y
batsy @Redheadrambles Thanks! Litsy is great, I'm scrambling around noting down new titles and reminding myself to read what's already on my shelves 😄 8y
Lindy I'm glad you reminded me of Anil's Ghost, which I enjoyed years ago. I spent 4 months in Sri Lanka in 1979, as a participant in a Canada World Youth exchange, so the country holds a special place in my heart. I was in the mountains an hour from Kandy and also on the coast near Kalutara. 8y
batsy @Lindy Oh wow, that's wonderful! I didn't even know Sri Lanka had a youth exchange program with Canada. I love Kandy and the outskirts, one of my favourite places. Did you stay with local families during your time there? Must have been a completely fascinating experience 💕 8y
Lindy @batsy Because of the war, I think my group was the last one to exchange with Sri Lanka (although CWY continues in other countries). Yes, we were billeted with families. It was great! Since then, I've been a host family for a Canada World Youth exchange with Trinidad and Tobago. 8y
Lindy There's a photo of me taken in Sri Lanka on my blog: https://lindypratch.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-disobedient-girl-by-ru-freeman.html?m=... 8y
batsy @Lindy Thank you for sharing this! Love the picture and the review, I haven't read that one yet. It's so sad that the war obviously put an end to the exchange programme. I think in recent years a lot of Tamil refugees found a new home in Canada. Your description of your time there is so evocative. Full moon, humid nights, milk rice, sambol 💜 8y
39 likes3 stack adds19 comments
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Redheadrambles
Redheadrambles
This Divided Island: Life, Death, and the Sri Lankan War | Samanth Subramanian
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This is going to be a hard book to get out of my mind. This book is an excellent piece of investigative journalism and I would happily press it into your hands regardless of your level of interest in the Sri Lankan civil war. It is about humanity and the things we are capable of doing to each other and how we justify some of those things to ourselves.

Book about war for #readharder2017

batsy This has been sitting on my TBR for too long! Thanks for the review. 8y
Redheadrambles @batsy thanks 🙏🏻 yes it is very good but tough to absorb 8y
19 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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AppuNthebooks
AppuNthebooks
This Divided Island: Life, Death, and the Sri Lankan War | Samanth Subramanian
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My #recentnonfictionread was Samanth Subramanian's take on the Sri Lankan Civil War through the eyes of the locals, the survivors. It reveals the emotional girth that news reports failed to transmit. A read that will leave you bruised, battered and spent. And rightfully so. But thankful that here is someone recording this version of events. #Marchintoreading

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