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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
Deraniyagala describes the indescribable. I will never be the same after reading this book. Momentous.
I found this book to be an excellent wake-up from the doldrums of family life. It inspired me to take in the joys of my life a little more deeply considering how quickly they can be taken away. While this is cliche for most tragic memoirs, Deraniyagala's small memories of her boys and her son made me think about what I would recall about my days with my family in a new way.
This book is wonderfully written and an intense look at loss. But it is almost excruciatingly painful to read because of the author's loss. I'm really glad I read it. But regret reading the bulk of it on a plane choking back tears.
By far, the darkest "grief memoir" I've ever read. Exponentially darker and deeper.
If you have experienced unimaginable loss, this book will wreck you and affirm your grief.
If you are looking for a tale with an uplifting moral, or some inherent optimism, this is not the book for you.
If you have experienced unimaginable loss, this book will wreck you and affirm your grief.
If you are looking for a tale with an uplifting moral, or some inherent optimism, this is not the book for you.
This was a really beautiful story of grief, if that isn't an oxymoron. I thought it might be too heartbreaking to read, but Sonali tells her story in such a straightforward, cut & dried way, and she gets right into it (the wave begins in the 1st sentence of the book), that you can both feel deeply for her but also see it from a distance. I saw some Goodreads reviewers didn't understand the "why" behind this book, and/or judged her for how she coped, but I think it's perfectly what it is: a book about processing an enormous, unimagineable amount of pain. It isn't done perfectly because that's not realistic. Too often I think we shy away from grief - feeling it or talking about it - though no one gets through life escaping it. I appreciated her attempt to face it.
This was a tough one - tough to read, tough to review. There are far better reviews out there for this that you should probably check out.
I picked this up randomly at the library while perusing the new non-fiction. I figured it would be gut-wrenching but it was something I was interested in.
I didn't really have any expectations as to what the book would be about. But it turned out to be a haunting, sad, depressing story about a survivor of the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004. She was the sole survivor in her family, while her parents, husband, and two children all perished.
The whole time I was reading, I kept getting goosebumps. I kept imagining myself in her place and wondering how I would go on. That's what really made it so heavy for me.
Granted, the author comes from a life of privilege - she had family and friends to fall back on, a career, etc. - all of which many other survivors did not have. But this book isn't about the tsunami and its overall devastation. It is a very personal memoir about one woman's experience and her grief. It is a raw, no-holds-barred, emotional journey.
This book is definitely not for everyone. But I'm glad I came across it.
I picked this up randomly at the library while perusing the new non-fiction. I figured it would be gut-wrenching but it was something I was interested in.
I didn't really have any expectations as to what the book would be about. But it turned out to be a haunting, sad, depressing story about a survivor of the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004. She was the sole survivor in her family, while her parents, husband, and two children all perished.
The whole time I was reading, I kept getting goosebumps. I kept imagining myself in her place and wondering how I would go on. That's what really made it so heavy for me.
Granted, the author comes from a life of privilege - she had family and friends to fall back on, a career, etc. - all of which many other survivors did not have. But this book isn't about the tsunami and its overall devastation. It is a very personal memoir about one woman's experience and her grief. It is a raw, no-holds-barred, emotional journey.
This book is definitely not for everyone. But I'm glad I came across it.
sad
medium-paced
Brilliant writing, so emotionally affecting. But the truth of the matter is, I really struggled with it from 100 pages on, because I knew what was going to come - another 100 pages of emotionally heavy, but beautifully written images or the author struggling with the grief and recollecting her family in every corner of the world.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
If you want to read a great book about grief, survivor's guilt, and eventual healing, this is it. Pick up this book.