About 100 pages in, just when I thought I understood the relationships, a man Thatha is mentioned for the first time and the reader is expected to know him. Separate anecdotes are related side-by-side, switching back and forth sometimes abruptly. Like any story with unfamiliar 'foreign' names, this book constantly challenges the reader to keep the characters properly related. Unfortunately, there is also some confusion in the telling. Nayomi Manaweera weaves this multi-family saga masterfully the author is to be praised for offering sensitive insight into the Sinhala-Tamil conflict. Highly recommended!Īlthough I am an avid reader of novels about other cultures, I found myself reading Island of a Thousand Mirrors with a mix of interest and confusion. In this prize-winning novel, we see that even though idyllicĬhildhoods may devolve into heart-breaking adult years, the beauty and courage of the human spirit resound for the reader. The characters seem very real in their conflicts and decisions and attitudes.

It's a memorable book, rich in descriptions of the tastes, smells, and sights of this beautiful place of clear waters, colorful flowers and birds, folklore and family stories.

This novel follows the lives of two girls from the differentĮthnic groups, and how their lives were affected by the political situation. Tamil secessionists turned to violence, and the next three decades saw the Civil War, with 80,000 deaths. After years of exploitation by colonial powers, Sri Lanka gained independence, and its citizens began jockeying for power. Alwis, the local coconut picker, drags Mala to safety as the mob lights bodies and vehicles on fire.Set largely on the island nation of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), this is the story of two families: one belonging to the majority Sinhalese people, and the other to the minority Tamil group. Trapped inside the car, Mala witnesses as Anuradha is violently murdered while trying to protect the Tamil boy from the crowd. They quickly encounter a mob in the streets, and Anuradha leaves the car to protect a Tamil schoolboy from “the glint of knives, broken bottles, machetes” (86). Anuradha offers to fetch a doctor, but Mala fears what may happen to him alone on the streets, so they venture out in their car toward the hospital. Mala feels intense labor pains during the third night of a 24-hour curfew on the town. Sylvia Sunethra lies to the mob to protect the Tamil Shivalingam family upstairs, managing to thwart the violence for three full days while the Shivalingam family flees.

Their budding romantic interest halts when violent mobs attack Tamil residences one night. Yasodhara and Shiva remain oblivious to the encroaching violence and notice one another’s attractiveness. Rumors of impending disaster and violence intensify.

Island of 1000 mirrors