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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
Oh my, this book. Heart-breaking, heart-warming, all the cliches. It starts on the day of the 2004 tsunami when Deraniyagala loses her two young sons, her husband, and her parents. How to cope with this much sudden loss? The memories and the grief move through to 2012, beautifully told. I'd recommend it highly if you can manage it.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
thank you so sonali for sharing this story with the world. I loved your account of everything and especially everything about your grieving process and how the tsunami affected the rest of your life. I loved this memoir and am ready to read more ❤️
Wow. This was such an engaging read. Beautiful and sad, my heart ached.
In the first chapter, the tsunami in Sri Lanka takes the lives of the author's parents, husband and two young boys. The rest of the memoir is sort of like excerpts from her diaries over the 7 years after the event. They are meditative, not unlike Oates' memoir "Widow", but somehow without the intellectual distance that Oates manages nicely. Deraniyagala is an academic, too, but her academic career is in the background. And we don't learn that much about her husband until the end of the memoir, where every hint about him is confirmed with her first meeting him at Cambridge when they were 19.
There is a cathartic moment at the end, as there must be in a memoir about grief. It's quiet, but it works.
This is a book that has more than just a bystanders' effect, but only after you finish it.
There is a cathartic moment at the end, as there must be in a memoir about grief. It's quiet, but it works.
This is a book that has more than just a bystanders' effect, but only after you finish it.
Wave is sad. It tells an incredibly sad story about the author and her family. As I have had a recent tragic event in my life, I understand the author. It's a melancholy novel as it should be. The love of her family is at the foremost, and as she allows herself to remember, we witness her healing process. A profound novel that will stay in my heart.
Warning: this book is written by a woman who lost almost her entire family in the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in 2004. The book is about her grief and her loss. If that sounds in any way triggering to you, then by all means, don’t read this.
But if you’re one of those people who is looking for a book about grief, about unspeakable tragedy and about someone finding the will to carry on in spite of it, this book will be right up your alley. This book is crushing. It is mammoth. It is powerful and unforgettable. This is a memoir but also a testimony. I’ve never suffered loss on the scale of this writer so I can’t even pretend to imagine how difficult it must have been for her. And she writes so eloquently and openly about her pain, her anguish and her suffering. It’s frank and stark and also a lot to take in. This is one of those books that will sit with you long after it is over. And you’ll find yourself thinking about it for a long while afterwards. It is very good but like I said at the beginning, it may not be the most appropriate book for everyone. Read at your own risk.
But if you’re one of those people who is looking for a book about grief, about unspeakable tragedy and about someone finding the will to carry on in spite of it, this book will be right up your alley. This book is crushing. It is mammoth. It is powerful and unforgettable. This is a memoir but also a testimony. I’ve never suffered loss on the scale of this writer so I can’t even pretend to imagine how difficult it must have been for her. And she writes so eloquently and openly about her pain, her anguish and her suffering. It’s frank and stark and also a lot to take in. This is one of those books that will sit with you long after it is over. And you’ll find yourself thinking about it for a long while afterwards. It is very good but like I said at the beginning, it may not be the most appropriate book for everyone. Read at your own risk.
Read Harder Challenge #5: A book about a natural disaster.
I would not ordinarily read a book about a natural disaster. That's the point of the challenge, of course. This book is about what happens to a person when she has lost everything. How do you go on in the face of something so unspeakably tragic? Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, parents, and two young sons to a tsunami. This stark, beautifully brutal book is about what happened next. Reading it feels, not voyeuristic, but like bearing witness.
I would not ordinarily read a book about a natural disaster. That's the point of the challenge, of course. This book is about what happens to a person when she has lost everything. How do you go on in the face of something so unspeakably tragic? Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, parents, and two young sons to a tsunami. This stark, beautifully brutal book is about what happened next. Reading it feels, not voyeuristic, but like bearing witness.
A survivor of the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka writes of her experience of surviving while her entire family perished. She is still grieving and the pain pours off each page. A very difficult read.
I found out about this book through one of my favorite magazines and I immediately put it on hold. On my fourth night of reading it, I mentioned to my boyfriend that this book was completely heart wrenching and it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain the author was going through after losing her entire family. I even said that I didn't really know why I was still reading it. The next morning I found out my brother unexpectedly passed away. I now knew and understood the pain and grief of the author. I believe that this book came to me when it did for a reason. After not touching the book for almost 2 weeks, I finally finished the last few pages I had left. I don't know if I was expecting a happy ending or a step-by-step answer to how she overcame her grief and moved on with her life. What I did learn was that grief and mourning is a long process. The pain is real and raw. It takes time for the pain to lessen, but it never really truly goes away completely.