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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
An unimaginable tragedy happened, and I'm truly sorry. However, just as I didn't give Bohemian Rhapsody five stars (it was the music that everybody was giving the five stars to, not the movie itself, sigh!), I'm not giving this book five stars, because it wasn't a five-star book for me. The author describes the terrible tragedy and its immediate aftermath, then she talks about her toxic (non-)coping mechanisms (self-harm, getting drunk & high on pills and harassing the new tenants of her former house), and then she delves into endless reminiscences about the good old halcyon days. Eight years after the tragedy, she still wallows in pity and mostly seems to spend her days sitting around, reminiscing. Not judging, completely get that, but still, this makes the book feel like something that should have stayed a private journal, because if somebody takes this at face value as a depiction of how to cope with something, then oh lord. The vibe of the first few pages is "I'm sorry for what happened to you," and by the end of the book, the author does not really allows for that to change in any way, there is no movement forward, just never-ending brooding about the past.
Fun fact I just found out about: the author is now married to Fiona Shaw, the actress who played Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter movies.
Fun fact I just found out about: the author is now married to Fiona Shaw, the actress who played Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter movies.
This book was depressing. I don't know what I was expecting (I'm a fool, perhaps) because it's about the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004 and the horror that it entailed. It's intense, sad, and blessedly brief. Not a beach read by any means.
Heartbreaking. Had to stop reading several times to cry. I think this would be painful to read at any stage of life, but as a parent, some parts of it were almost unbearable for me.
Wave is a book I couldn't put down. I was enthralled by the story and wanted to read it without stopping. Wave is Sonali Deraniyagala's memoir of the 2004 tsunami in which she lost her husband, two sons, her parents and her friend. This is a book about grief and loss and how those things make you a little crazy. It isn't an easy book to read by any means. And Sonali doesn't always come off as the most likable of people. However, her grief is real and visceral throughout the pages of this book. Sonali obviously suffers from PTSD after the tsunami (even though it is never mention); her actions are clearly those of someone who is not able to work through her grief for years. She harasses the family that moves into her parents house, she can't return to her own home for two years, she treats her family who survived and his helping her with disinterest and disdain. I do wish there was more information or acknowledgement of the others who were suffering as well or the people who helped her survive or even more on her recovery. That is not what this book is about however. It is a personal memoir about what one woman experience during and after the tsunami of 2004. It is a compelling read but may not be for everyone.
Author Deraniyagala's account of losing her parents, husband, and two young sons in the Dec. 26 2004 tsunami while on vacation in Sri Lanka. Wave is an honest and frank account of her struggles to live and reluctance to return to her life in London after such an enormous loss. Deraniyagala does a beautiful job sharing memories of her children and family. A great meditation on what aspects of the everyday are memorable and meaningful.
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent
On the of morning of December 26th, at 7:58a in Sri Lanka, Sonali’s life changed forever. This is a memoir of the tragic, horrific events of that day—and her grief journey from the moment she realized her family did not survive the tsunami wave that morning. Grief knows no bounds and too often we push it away instead of facing it. It doesn’t go away; you just make room for it. The author discusses the moment she saw the wave, her moments in the water, and every emotion she felt after. Fear, anger, guilt, love, despair. She tells her story here in a way that only she can. Gripping and powerful. I especially loved how she brought up her food memories with her family near the end of the book. Food has such a unique way of binding our memories together with those we have loved.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
This was a difficult book to read. I planned to read more non-fiction this year than I have in the past, and so when I read a blurb about this book, I thought it would be a good one to add to my list. I've watched the movie, The Impossible, which is based on a true story about this same tsunami from a different perspective. In The Impossible, the family is vacationing in Thailand for Christmas, and in this book, the family is vacationing in Sri Lanka. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami reached both places, and affected both families, however, one family was far more fortunate than the other. "Wave" is written by Sonali Draniyagala, who lost both of her children, her husband, and her parents in this unexpected catastrophe. She alone survived. There were so many similarities in the description of the flooding, the hospitals, the devastation, but the grief in "Wave" is unbearable. The book describes the terrifying moments the tsunami hits the southern beach of Sri Lanka, Sonali's amazing survival after being buffeted by the storm waters, her search for her family at the hospital and morgue after he rescue, and her months vacillating between grief and denial at her uncle's home in Colombo where he relatives kept a six-month suicide watch over her. It took four years before Sonali was able to go back to their home in London, where things were left just as they were the day in December, 2004, when they left for Sri Lanka just before Christmas. The stark and transparent grief, denial, and slow recovery scares me, although she eventually comes back to herself, enjoying memories of her family, while continuing to grieve and miss them. I don't know that I would handle this situation any better or differently, and reading another mother's pain is difficult. I found myself shaking while reading about the initial catastrophe, and crying, imagining her grief through the search and final loss of her family. If you're looking to expand your non-fiction reading, or are interested in reading an amazing story of survival, spend some time reading Sonali's story.
I think this book could have been written better, but it's still a very powerful story.