Civil war in Sri Lanka, human rights issues, a story of ordinary people, love, family, a lot of history in this country.
I love books about history and/or novels from other parts of this world. Anil's Ghost combines the two. The language in this book is wonderful, I could read on like this for ages. Even though the story is not "nice" (given the subject), I really enjoyed reading it, getting to know the characters and finding out more about the history of this country, something not as widely known in this part of the world as some others. I guess, Sri Lanka doesn't look important enough.
See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.
From the back cover:
"Anil’s Ghost transports us to Sri Lanka, a country steeped in centuries of tradition, now forced into the late twentieth century by the ravages of civil war. Into this maelstrom steps Anil Tissera, a young woman born in Sri Lanka, educated in England and America, who returns to her homeland as a forensic anthropologist sent by an international human rights group to discover the source of the organized campaigns of murder engulfing the island. What follows is a story about love, about family, about identity, about the unknown enemy, about the quest to unlock the hidden past–a story propelled by a riveting mystery. Unfolding against the deeply evocative background of Sri Lanka’s landscape and ancient civilization, Anil’s Ghost is a literary spellbinder - Michael Ondaatje’s most powerful novel yet."
Michael Ondaatje also wrote "The English Patient" which I still haven't read.
It made me want to visit the country - that and his memoir "Running in the Family" which reads like fiction.
ReplyDeleteI never even heard of "Running in the Family", such a shame, Davida. I will have to find that.
DeleteAnyway, I just read about him on another blog, this seems to be a sign.