But before this happens, we learn a lot about Yasodhara Rajasinghe and her parents and grandparents. We quickly learn that the two ethnic groups clash, ultimately leading to war. The story is narrated by two daughters, Yasodhara the Sinhalese and Saraswathi the Tamil. I was then jolted into the shocking scenes of brutality and often graphic violence of the war. As a reader, I could easily envision the bright colors, the sounds and the mouth-watering market smells of the island. A remarkable debut by Nayomi Munaweera, this novel is beautifully written, juxtaposing the stunning landscape of this island country with its ravaging horrors of a civil war. Island of a Thousand Mirrors is an intense and vivid portrait of a piece of Sri Lankan history that I was relatively unfamiliar with before reading this. When the tanks rumble past in the far fields, I feel it breathe when the air strikes start and the blood flows, I feel it lick its lips." "Sometimes I get this breathless feeling that the war is a living creature, something huge, with a pointed tongue and wicked claws. Narrated in two unforgettably authentic voices and spanning the entirety of the decades-long civil war, it offers an unparalleled portrait of a beautiful land during its most difficult moment by a spellbinding new literary talent who promises tremendous things to come. But her dreams for the future are abruptly stamped out when she is arrested by a group of Sinhala soldiers and pulled into the very heart of the conflict that she has tried so hard to avoid-a conflict that, eventually, will connect her and Yasodhara in unexpected ways.In the tradition of Michael Ondatje's Anil's Ghost and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, Island of a Thousand Mirrors is an emotionally resonant saga of cultural heritage, heartbreaking conflict, and deep family bonds.
But Yasodhara's life has already become intertwined with a young Tamil girl's.Saraswathi is living in the active war zone of Sri Lanka and hopes to become a teacher. Yasodhara's family escapes to Los Angeles. As a child in idyllic Colombo, Yasodhara and her siblings' lives are shaped by social hierarchies, their parents' ambitions, teenage love, and, subtly, the differences between Tamil and Sinhala people but the peace is shattered by the tragedies of war.
Yasodhara tells the story of her own Sinhala family, rich in love, with everything they could ask for.
A stunning literary debut of two young women on opposing sides of the devastating Sri Lankan Civil WarBefore violence tore apart the tapestry of Sri Lanka and turned its pristine beaches red, there were two families.
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