Island of a Thousand Mirrors: A Novel Paperback – Illustrated, 5 January 2016

A very moving story, beautifully written. Some parts are difficult to read, which was expected because the story is set during the civil war in Sri Lanka. I fell in love with the characters - the book takes us through three different generations almost. It's a short book, yet it took me a lot of time to finish it because I wanted to read slowly and absorb things. I also loved the descriptions of the island, the villages, the beach, the food - they were so evocative and they made me nostalgic about my summer vacations in South India. Nayomi Munaweera has a unique voice and I can't wait to learn about what she is writing next.

I loved the earlier chapters, of childhood, which had an unforced ease and rang true. The differences between communities, their foods and prejudices was delightful. The rape scene was agonisingly immediate, the way the experience is cemented into the victim's psyche. But I found the later chapters too gory, too real. It is no doubt all true, but it was too much in-your-face for me. Above all, it reminds one that there are no real winners in a war, only terrible suffering all round. And yet, mankind repeats it ad nauseum. As the old song has it, "when will they ever learn, when will they ev-er learn?"

Nice book

Island of a Thousand Mirror is well written novel about two woman, a Sinhala and a Tamil girl, caught in-between the Sri-Lankan Civil war. Nayomi Munaweera is quite a talented writer. Her moving prose makes us care for the characters. As we read through the pages, we realize that these characters are not entirely fictional. These are amalgam of people who lived through the horrors of the war.Beautifully written story that brings the humanity in all of us. Highly recommended.

A wonderful debut by a Sri Lankan-American writer. Chronicles the story of Sri Lankan conflict poignantly. Those interested to know Sri Lankan history should definitely read the book.

More than politics, this book gives a view into human sufferings while caught in the middle of war. For normal people it doesn't matter which side they are on but they simply want to build a life with hope of better future which gets denied. The first half of the book was very slow and I felt it took a while to get to the point. Also I felt it too verbose with an old style or choice of words just to portray verbal prowess. I am not a fan of fiction, so it could be the reason for making it feel verbose for me.

I liked it!

The writing comes with a distinctive freshness of prose, the characters, aromas and emotions actually flow out of the book... As if you were experiencing them in reality!

This book brings its characters to life with compelling prose. The story is part of a history I am unfamiliar with, but will now explore further. Although some parts of the book are difficult to read, I found that this was because it felt as if I was experiencing what the characters experienced.

Yasodhara leads a carefree life in Colombo with her parents and her little sister Lanka, till one day she has to leave because the island that she calls home is ravaged by a civil war between the Sinhalese and Tamilians. She starts an initially difficult, but eventually comfortable, life in the foreign shores of Los Angeles with her parents and her sister, Lanka. While she grows up to be the “ideal immigrant daughter” with a graduate degree and an arranged marriage; Lanka is the one with the rebellious streak. Back in the homeland Saraswathie is caught heart of the war zone; having already lost her brothers to the cause. She wants to be a teacher, until a horrific incident propels her to the frontline. Years after migrating to the States, when Lanka, who ironically is named after her native island and the land of the demon king Ravan, follows the call of her wild, wandering heart back to the homeland, Yasodhara follows her. It is here that the sisters’ and Saraswathie’s paths meet in a catastrophic way; symbolic of the strife that has plagued the “pearl island”.Munaweera’s writing is heartbreakingly beautiful. I really love the way she portrays emotions, not matter how banal or how extreme they are. Be it the mundane banter of quarreling extended families or the extreme hatred of Tamil rebels, she aces all the manifestations. Without giving away too much, there is a section of prose where she talks of consumption of cyanide, and I feel that was the most bone chilling piece of writing I have read in a while. In describing the process, she builds a climax in just a few lines and while you know what the end would be, but still have your heart in the mouth at the end of it.It’s an unfortunate truth that battlegrounds often provide the best set ups for great stories. I knew about the Sri Lankan conflict, having come from a nation that lost a Prime Minister to this madness, but Munaweera puts a human face to the conflict. I like how the writer didn’t try to take sides. She rightly pointed out that while people often want black and white answers, but it is mostly not possible. In wars, often there are no victors. In wars were both sides have corrupt motivations, there definitely aren’t.

Island of a Thousand Mirrors is the type of novel that completely sweeps the reader away into a world known little to outsiders. It gives a glimpse into the world of forbidden love, prejudice, and arranged marriages as a civil war begins to simmer in the background. It shows a world that holds strongly onto tradition and what it means to be from an affluent family. The author Nayomi Munaweera mirrors aspects of her life into the main character Yasodhara Rajasinghe and freely expresses her feminist ideology through the little details. Yasodhara is a young woman who emigrated to the United States with her mother, father, and younger sister Lanka, known as La from Sri Lanka as the civil war was gearing into motion. The beautiful aspect of this novel is it doesn't just focus on Yasodhara but on sisterhood and the strength of family in perilous times. The novel starts off in the year 1948 with the last of the British ships leaving Sri Lanka (at that time named Ceylon) as it officially becomes an independent nation. Yasodhara shortly introduces herself and entices the reader with telling the story of her parents (who are both Sinhalese). She begins with her father, who grows up in a fishing village raised by a father who has no issues with speaking with those of lower caste and an overbearing mother who is all high and mighty with high hopes for her children. Yasodhara's mother is an aspiring doctor, trying to follow her older brother's footsteps until a tragedy occurs forcing her to become the saving grace for her family but not before she falls into a forbidden love with the upstairs neighbor, a Tamil boy. All while this goes on the author slips in the occasional reference to the turmoil that is about to simmer and boil over between the Tamils and Sinhalese people. Shortly Yasodhara's mother is found in an arranged marriage with her father. The mother finds herself giving birth with another women in same room, and there is born Yasodhara and Shiva who will be connected in way they do not yet realize. Three years later La is born and then they leave to America. While the war rages on, years later La and Yasodhara find themselves in Sri Lanka again as adults in hopes of healing their broken hearts and to reunite with someone they thought they would never see again. In the latter half of the books arises another story, a Tamil girl who is fully submerged in the civil war, facing traumas and losses leading her from being an aspiring teacher to a different path with no hope. These two women, Yasodhara and the Tamil girl paths cross in unimaginable way leaving the reader at a loss for words. As the book comes to a close so does the war, leaving on a hopeful note. Beautiful, detailed descriptions of island make it come to life without being too much for the senses and leaving the reader bombarded with unnecessary descriptions. With all the beautiful scenery and enticing sambals and curries the author also dwells deep into the horrors of the war with great detail, leaving the reader stunned and horrified. The characters become so real that there is no choice left but to feel what they feel and be able to experience the war, the pain, the tragedy. This novel is full of emotions and beautifully written scenes not meant for the lighthearted.

great writing, passionate account of a fearful time in the history of Sri Lanka and the tragedy of love in the midst of confusing race -hatred, whipped up overnight by the Media and leaders who had ulterior motives.

It was very good, but had slightly too much beautiful writing and not quite enough character development. There was lots of tragedy but I was never involved enough to feel any of it. It does make an effort to show that both sides were at fault and corrupt, without going very deep into the politics or history, and focusing on how it did or didn't affect the people living there and also the families who left.I'd have given it 3.5 stars if I could.