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clarereadstheworld's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Wow, this book is just wow; first book of the year finished, second book in a row to make me cry and a breathtaking narrative, wonderfully crafted.
The story focuses on events leading up to the outbreak of civil war in Sri-Lanka in July 1983, a war which would last over 25 years, and claim over 100,000 lives, displacing more than 800,000 at it's peak in 2001.
Things all start quite slowly and calmly. On the peaceful Sal Mal lane in 1979, the Hearth family with four children, Suren, Rashmi, Nihil and Devi have just moved into a new house. The children quickly make friends (and enemies) with the other children on the street, and the usual childhood rivalries, jealousies and triumphs play out. The children gorw up, pass exams, fail exams, play sports, learn new instruments, and disobey their parents. Little by little the children begin to hear rumours about the Tamil Tigers, divisions in the population, and a coming war. At first easy to ignore, these whispers start to grow louder and louder until the children can not fail to pay attention and feel the repercussions.
What I both loved and found terrifying in this book is the way Ru Freeman shows how easily one group can be turned against another group. On Sal Mal Lane the two groups are the Tamils and the Sinhalese, the two main ethnic groups in Sri-Lanka, but they could be any two waring ethnic groups historically or currently. The process of 'othering' an ethnic group portrayed was scarily well done.
Although there are notes of foreboding from the first page, and it is clear fron very early on that there isn't going to be a happy ending, nothing could have prepared me for the last chapters. Reading this book felt a bit like pushing my self off downhill on a bike, it started slowly, gradually getting faster, until the inevitable crash landing at the bottom which I knew was coming, but still wasn't prepared for. I'm definitely going to miss the Hearth children now I've finished. Does anyone else miss characters when you finish a book?
The story focuses on events leading up to the outbreak of civil war in Sri-Lanka in July 1983, a war which would last over 25 years, and claim over 100,000 lives, displacing more than 800,000 at it's peak in 2001.
Things all start quite slowly and calmly. On the peaceful Sal Mal lane in 1979, the Hearth family with four children, Suren, Rashmi, Nihil and Devi have just moved into a new house. The children quickly make friends (and enemies) with the other children on the street, and the usual childhood rivalries, jealousies and triumphs play out. The children gorw up, pass exams, fail exams, play sports, learn new instruments, and disobey their parents. Little by little the children begin to hear rumours about the Tamil Tigers, divisions in the population, and a coming war. At first easy to ignore, these whispers start to grow louder and louder until the children can not fail to pay attention and feel the repercussions.
What I both loved and found terrifying in this book is the way Ru Freeman shows how easily one group can be turned against another group. On Sal Mal Lane the two groups are the Tamils and the Sinhalese, the two main ethnic groups in Sri-Lanka, but they could be any two waring ethnic groups historically or currently. The process of 'othering' an ethnic group portrayed was scarily well done.
Although there are notes of foreboding from the first page, and it is clear fron very early on that there isn't going to be a happy ending, nothing could have prepared me for the last chapters. Reading this book felt a bit like pushing my self off downhill on a bike, it started slowly, gradually getting faster, until the inevitable crash landing at the bottom which I knew was coming, but still wasn't prepared for. I'm definitely going to miss the Hearth children now I've finished. Does anyone else miss characters when you finish a book?
altoidtheshovel's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
whats_margaret_reading's review against another edition
4.0
On Sal Mal Lane is a well constructed novel that chronicles the lives of a street of diverse neighbors through the early 1980s in Sri Lanka.
It is also utterly captivating.
The inhabitants of Sal Mal Lane are from all ethnic groups, but how they raise children, how those children relate to their parents, and their enthusiasm about cricket brings them together. There is the aspirational middle class family, the low class family, the family with an adult child who lives at home, and all of the fates of these characters are bound together by their location and by the tumultuous time in which they live.
I had to read slowly to unpack each sentence and let the atmosphere of Sal Mal Lane to sink it.
Just stop reading this review and read it already. It's more than worth the time and the investment in sorting out the families for the beautiful creation of a community in Sri Lanka.
It is also utterly captivating.
The inhabitants of Sal Mal Lane are from all ethnic groups, but how they raise children, how those children relate to their parents, and their enthusiasm about cricket brings them together. There is the aspirational middle class family, the low class family, the family with an adult child who lives at home, and all of the fates of these characters are bound together by their location and by the tumultuous time in which they live.
I had to read slowly to unpack each sentence and let the atmosphere of Sal Mal Lane to sink it.
Just stop reading this review and read it already. It's more than worth the time and the investment in sorting out the families for the beautiful creation of a community in Sri Lanka.
poindextrix's review against another edition
4.0
This review originally appeared on my blog
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman is a truly beautiful book. It is set in Sri Lanka between the years 1979 and 1983 when there was a great amount of civil unrest and tension among different religious and ethnic communities.
To be entirely honest, I know almost nothing about Sri Lankan history before reading this book and while a stronger grasp might have been beneficial in providing a larger historical context for the story, it was certainly not necessary to understand the story.
On Sal Mal Lane focuses mostly on the children on the lane, especially the Herath children who live in a somewhat perfect bubble of music, fraternal understanding and cooperation, and academic achievement.
The beauty and tragedy of this book is how the children along the lane begin to learn of the world beyond that of their small community — where instead of the petty differences and disagreements there are much more volatile prejudices at work.
On Sal Mal Lane chronicles the loss of innocence and the resilience of community. It is touching and profoundly sad, yet with redemptive overtones. It shows some of the horrible things people can do, but it is about the wonderful things people can do.
It is great, it just leads to inappropriate displays of emotion on public transportation.
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman is a truly beautiful book. It is set in Sri Lanka between the years 1979 and 1983 when there was a great amount of civil unrest and tension among different religious and ethnic communities.
To be entirely honest, I know almost nothing about Sri Lankan history before reading this book and while a stronger grasp might have been beneficial in providing a larger historical context for the story, it was certainly not necessary to understand the story.
On Sal Mal Lane focuses mostly on the children on the lane, especially the Herath children who live in a somewhat perfect bubble of music, fraternal understanding and cooperation, and academic achievement.
The beauty and tragedy of this book is how the children along the lane begin to learn of the world beyond that of their small community — where instead of the petty differences and disagreements there are much more volatile prejudices at work.
On Sal Mal Lane chronicles the loss of innocence and the resilience of community. It is touching and profoundly sad, yet with redemptive overtones. It shows some of the horrible things people can do, but it is about the wonderful things people can do.
It is great, it just leads to inappropriate displays of emotion on public transportation.
gum1311by's review against another edition
3.0
Well written. Story line is slow to build with multiple characters, each with a developed background. This is not a quick read.
jillann's review
5.0
Set in Sri Lanka in the couple of years before the civil war on a small dead end street called Sal Mal Lane. The lives of the children on the street mirror the growing unrest in the wider country.
jooniperd's review
3.0
i am trying to collect my thoughts in order to express how i feel after having just finished the read. the end of this book, a section titled 1983, which is 93 pages long, was nearly perfect. a few moments of too much telling is my only criticism of this part of the book. (as i was reading, i had reached the same ideas and messages. i felt them implied in the prose. freeman, though, chose to lay some things out very specifically, and i felt most of these incidents to be obvious - so the telling/explaining wasn't necessary to me.) 1983 contains so much heartbreak and beauty. while i didn't cry... i nearly cried. i could feel the tears trying to push their way out. which surprised me, this response, because none of the action in the last section of the book was unexpected at all. i knew where this was going because the fist 276 pages of the novel are spent ominously foreshadowing disaster. so the fact freeman could elicit such an emotional response, even though i knew it was coming, impressed me.
i tell you, though, that first 276 pages... it was a tough go. i wasn't feeling much interest in the story. i was very taken with the time and history of which freeman is writing. and i enjoyed some of the characters very much. but the passivity - which i recognize may be very purposeful as the characters are waiting and waiting for events to unfold - was frustrating at times. i also found freeman's writing a bit inconsistent. she had these absolutely beautiful, wonderful sentences, at moments. then, at other moments, they felt very awkward, or overwritten. as well, the issue i already noted about telling/explaining occurs in the earlier parts of the novel too.
so, before i got to the final section, i was thinking this was another disappointing 2-star read for me. but that last section. man. i am now trying to think about ways the book - which is very ambitious in trying to give fictional context to this very sad and difficult time in sri lanka's history - could have been tightened up. i just read about online, to gain some sense of how others responded to this read. i found this statement in a publishers weekly review (uncredited): "...had this saga—which is three-quarters foreboding, one-quarter violent, heartbreaking denouement—been more concise, it could almost have been called a masterpiece."
and that completely sums my feelings up. so i have landed on 3.5-stars. it will be interesting to see if this book sits with me over the next few days, and if i begin to feel more strongly/positively about the first 276 pages. (oh - total bonus points, too, for maps and diagrams. because i am a dork like that!)
i tell you, though, that first 276 pages... it was a tough go. i wasn't feeling much interest in the story. i was very taken with the time and history of which freeman is writing. and i enjoyed some of the characters very much. but the passivity - which i recognize may be very purposeful as the characters are waiting and waiting for events to unfold - was frustrating at times. i also found freeman's writing a bit inconsistent. she had these absolutely beautiful, wonderful sentences, at moments. then, at other moments, they felt very awkward, or overwritten. as well, the issue i already noted about telling/explaining occurs in the earlier parts of the novel too.
so, before i got to the final section, i was thinking this was another disappointing 2-star read for me. but that last section. man. i am now trying to think about ways the book - which is very ambitious in trying to give fictional context to this very sad and difficult time in sri lanka's history - could have been tightened up. i just read about online, to gain some sense of how others responded to this read. i found this statement in a publishers weekly review (uncredited): "...had this saga—which is three-quarters foreboding, one-quarter violent, heartbreaking denouement—been more concise, it could almost have been called a masterpiece."
and that completely sums my feelings up. so i have landed on 3.5-stars. it will be interesting to see if this book sits with me over the next few days, and if i begin to feel more strongly/positively about the first 276 pages. (oh - total bonus points, too, for maps and diagrams. because i am a dork like that!)
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