Lead Review (Brotherless Night)
- Book: Brotherless Night
- Location: Jaffna, Sri Lanka
- Author: V V Ganeshananthan
Brotherless Night by V V Ganeshananthan, novel set in later 20th Century Sri Lanka.
Longlisted for the Women’s Prize (Fiction) 2024 AND shortlisted for the prestigious Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.
I have recently visited Sri Lanka, and it is a country recovering from all kinds of difficulties and I really wanted to get a feel for the country’s history. Fiction can often be a key in understanding of, not only events but also emotional responses. This novel focusses on the civil war that raged across three decades, where the Tamils were in the minority and remorselessly persecuted by the majority ruling Sinhalese,
As the novel opens Sashi is 16, growing up in a Tamil household in 1981 and, despite being in a rather male dominated society, she wants to train as a doctor. She is already aware of the iniquities between factions in Jaffna, and moves down to Colombo to start her training. Her brother does what he has to in order to further the cause of the Tamils and she too is soon drawn into the murky and bloody dynamics of civil war.
The story is about the impact of fighting on family and individuals, with everyday life still a feature of life, and this is beautifully evoked by the author, there is a real sense of time and place.
I enjoyed this book, although the style of writing could, at times feel just a tiny bit dry. Overall it has been an interesting and enlightening journey into fairly recent events in Sri Lanka.