Welcome to Litsy!

The writing is beautiful. I immediately took to the narrator‘s voice and its unusual detached feel. But maybe because of that detachment I wasn‘t immediately emotionally invested. However as the story moved on I became gripped, and also sad and distressed at the fate of Sashi and those around her. The second half was excellent; the final pages such an angry yet reflective look back on the war, that it fully won me over, as did the author‘s note.

“Brotherless Night” is an emotionally-charged novel that follows a family & their experiences during the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from 1983 to 2009.

The book offers a very nuanced look at the lives of civilians who are swept into the eye of a war, whose contours & colours start to blur and become unrecognisable as time goes on. It offers insight into women‘s experiences in war.

This was a challenging read in that it was dense and a painful storyline. War is always messy and so much loss, including not having a childhood as is the case of the main character. I learned a lot about Sri Lanka. For anyone who doesn't shy away from challenging historical fiction, this is a good one. Great writing.

The tagged 2024 Women‘s Prize winner is still my favorite of the year.

Enjoy your book shopping!

@BookmarkTavern

Last book of our wonderful holiday keeping me company for the 700miles drive back home.

Finally read the winner of the #Womensprize and #carolshieldsprize. An important book about war and truth. Beautifully written. I felt removed from the book emotionally. Can appreciate this novel. 4 🌟

#AboutABook Day 8: this is #BasedOnTrueStory - and it‘s pretty harrowing and traumatic as all civil wars can attest. Review is forthcoming.

#AboutABook Day 3: This one is #WithSadEnding, although a tad hopeful - relentlessly depressing. Review is forthcoming. Paired with tiramisu rocher - fave dessert.

#AboutABook Day 1: #Published2023 this is our IRL book club pick for the Emirates Literature Foundation and the discussion is in two hours time here in Dubai - which I used as an excuse for my family to stay here for the weekend. Just finished reading it. Paired with zucchini burrata salad which is absolutely delish.

This was a complete rollercoaster of emotions. Educational and moving, it‘s so beautifully written. I can see why it won #womensprize #pick #brotherlessnight

Incredibly heavy and thought provoking family drama set against the backdrop of political unrest in Sri Lanka.

Some books you know instantly you‘re going to like.

A difficult rd as the trauma of civil war is evoked thru the voice of Sashi,a medical student, whose brothers +childhood friend K join the tamal tigers fight against the Sri Lankan govt.Over 10 years, she struggles thru the horrors of war as she treats victims at the same time as studying. The personal losses are told well, particularly her uni mentor whose own fight against inhumanity is cruelly revenged. Well deserved women's prize winner.

Halfway through 2024. Fiction favorite is still the tagged although I loved all the books pictured. Nonfiction favorite is still the Winterson memoir. Wonder if anything in the second half will knock these off their thrones? Do not be surprised if you see a lot of these titles on my #AuldLangSpine list. Yes, i am thinking that far ahead because time is moving that rapidly.

This was a difficult read because of the subject matter. I think it‘s an important story and well writtten.

What a wonderful read. Really felt I learnt a lot

Next up . . . An impulse buy when it won the Women's Prize

Winner winner chicken dinner!

https://womensprize.com/prizes/womens-prize-for-fiction/

#WomensPrize #SriLanka

Thank you so much for this book Helen 😘 I can‘t wait to read it. The birthday card is perfect 😍

This is on the Women‘s Prize shortlist, and won the Carol Sheilds Prize for Fiction. The story traces a family through the Sri Lankan Civil War. The setting is immersive and terrifying, the characters are well-drawn and interesting, and the language is clear yet descriptive. I finished this days ago, and I am still thinking about it and searching for more information about Sri Lanka. Unforgettable.

I‘m not sure I have the words to express just how sad this book is. It‘s a virtual ‘no one will save you‘ story about Sri Lanka. Competing militant factions, government, the UN, none of them will stop the deaths of civilians. This really is historical fiction at its finest, with the result being that I now know almost intimately the pain this county has experienced.

I really thought this was well done. There is a lot of this Sri Lanka in the 1980s lit turning up in the lit prizes over the past couple of years. Or maybe they were always there and I'm reading more of the selections.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Over the last few days I kept falling asleep every time I picked this book up. I was getting super annoyed about it. Just found out I have COVID which explains a lot of recent events. It‘s a mild case, so all is well. Just sleeping a lot. 💤💤

I‘ve read some great books this year. I think Brotherless Night will be hard to beat as best of year.

I owe a massive thank you to the Women‘s Prize for putting this book on my radar because I absolutely loved it. Sashi is a beautifully rendered character who wants to become a doctor and help others. When Sri Lanka explodes into civil war she tries to balance that need to help, the love she feels for her family and friends, and the violent changes taking place around her. Not a book I expected to have a hard time putting down but I really did.

#SpringSkies Day 29 #FavBkOfMarch

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I read some fantastic books in April. I might get one more in today for a total of 21 books.

Audio: 9 🦋 Print: 5 🦋 Kindle: 6 🦋

Women‘s Prize: 7 🦋 #SeriesLove24: 6 🦋 NetGalley: 1 🦋 Litsy buddy reads & challenges: 8 🦋

5 🌟 Zorrie 🦋 Brotherless Night 🦋 The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory 🦋

Foggy morning after a night‘s rain.Tulips closed up for the night.Low 70s predicted but no sun.Wondering what makes them open?Temperature?Sun?
There is the rapid tapping of a woodpecker at work- she must be in one of the tall ancient Maples that line part of my driveway, because her tapping is LOUD.A chorus of birdsong has begun. A silent runner passes by.I love celebrating early mornings on my porch. #porchlife
#coffeeandbooks Book mail arrived.

This was appropriately grim & brutal. 😒

#independentbookstoreday with @KLyn1
Had to get a couple for #camplitsy24 of course!

This book was 18 years in the making and it‘s obvious that the author put her heart and soul into it. The way war creeps in and disrupts, the way sides are chosen, how violence erupts, the way people try to maintain a normal existence when chaos is all around. I think this book is extraordinary. 5 🌟. Vying for the top spot on my Women‘s Prize short list.

#MotivationalMonday

1) I have a whole week to myself with no set plans. I think this is a first since my kids were born.
2) This is Dahlia. My husband is her person. She will miss him and tolerate me.
3) I would like to fly and not anything small enough to be someone‘s dinner.
4) Finishing the tagged today.

Tagging everyone

@Cupcake12

Who is going to come to save us?

#WeekendReads

Will finish The Nun today and hopefully Brotherless Night tomorrow.

@rachelsbrittain

It was a daily brutality roulette.

Map (detail) from https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/sri_lanka_map.htm

Sashi, a Tamil girl determined to be a doctor, is 16 when this novel opens in 1981 in northern Sri Lanka. Before long, she and everyone around her are in the midst of a civil war. Her searing voice makes this novel unputdownable and unforgettable.

When I returned from the clinic, I flung myself not into bed or back into my studies, but into those volumes. Their words drained the night of terror. In the Colombo refugee camp, I had longed for a book to remove me from reality. With every chapter I read now, I felt not removed but partially returned to a safety I had thought entirely lost. I tethered my interior life to the pages.

You must understand: there is no single day on which a war begins. The conflict will collect around you gradually, the way carrion birds assemble around the vulnerable, until there are so many predators that the object of their hunger is not even visible. You will not be able to see yourself in the gathering crowd of those who would kill you.

Please don't look for me. I looked for them everywhere. Of course I did. My brothers. And also Κ.

For those of you reading the #womensprize long list, this ebook eis on sale in the US. If my library hold hadn‘t come in last night I would definitely be snagging it at that. price.

This book - I how no words. This was amazing

It‘s the 80s and the Sri Lankan civil war. The Tamil Tigers is fighting for more freedom and independence. The men goes off to fight, but we follow a young girl, Sashi, who remains with her mother and younger brother, trying to live her life. This is war from a woman‘s point of view; how to get food, the insecurities as the military/ Tigers patrol the streets and bombs and the threats of rape.

From its gong of a first line all the way through to the end, this book grabbed me by the lapels and didn‘t let go. The MC looks back at her experiences across years during the Sri Lankan civil war as first the government and then the local militia terrorized civilians. This book will be on my best of the year list. A must read.

This is a quote from a Tamil character during the Sri Lankan civil war. But it sadly applies so broadly to people in many places.

Wow, that‘s a heckuva first line!

#BookReport 15/24

I read two #womenprize books this week. The Maiden was enjoyable, the tagged book really good yet both can‘t compete to In Defence of the Act to me - my favorite so far. I then binge-read the Marrs chunkster, an engaging thriller, not his best though.

I went in to this novel with zero knowledge of the Sri Lankan civil war and I came away having an idea of the human impact. It was a difficult one to spend time with, as there‘s much suffering. A particularly horrid scene involving a pregnant woman will stay with me. A difficult read.

I recently sent a letter to a terrorist I used to know.

(What a first line)
#FirsrLineFridays

What a beatiful book. I loved the narrator‘s journey between the different points of view on the war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government and the people caught in between. She shows there is so much grey between black and white and I learned a lot. Besides that VV Ganeshananthan creates wonderful human characters, who she no doubt met and knew in real life. A great read. #Womenprize

Last book completed during the month of March. I couldn‘t finish another book. Second book read from the Women‘s Prize Fiction long list.
A family saga during Sri Lanka war. So hard and sad. I searched for some information about this time and it was terrible, so many people died, so long this war lasted😢 💔
Beautifully written but hard to read. 4.5/5⭐️