Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
Devastating. This is not one of those memoirs where someone overcomes a terrible tragedy and becomes a better person or learns something about him or herself. In this memoir the most terrible thing happens, and it truly just is terrible and heart-breaking and there were times when I really thought I would have to stop reading. But it is beautifully written, and I just loved her stories of her family and especially of her boys. I could really relate to her stories of her boys and how much she loved them. And while it was painful to read them, I think it was also good to know that she would always have those memories and that she was able to share them in this way.
I just read some of the other reviews here, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this way. Something is really wrong when you don't sympathize with a person who went through what this woman went through, but I honestly felt nothing for her. This may have been, in part, because she describes the tragedy BEFORE we really get to know her or her family through the 'flashback' details of their lives. I do know grief, and had to help my small child through grief (losing his father) so I could relate to many of the 'triggers' she described. Again, I should have been emotionally moved by this story and I just wasn't.
It might seem counter-intuitive to read a book about such loss in the middle of a pandemic, but I found Deraniyagala's raw emotion and ultimate healing incredibly comforting. I can imagine that losing someone to Covid-19 today feels, in some way, like having them swept away, because it happens so suddenly, and with no chance to say goodbye. Her deep grief is all-encompassing, and we feel drowned with her in those moments. But every month, every year that passes, she heals, almost without noticing. She breathes again, and we breathe with her. It's a needed promise of hope in this moment.
Most of this book was a long, memory bath in writing. This was an emotional and moving book, but not exactly for the reasons I expected. The first 50 pages were about the day of the tsunami, the rest of the book was a long lament over family members lost; the lament is in the form of a long description about the author's life with those she lost down to every mundane detail about life. While I was respectful about the way in which the author grieved, I was surprised there was no story here about how one might move through the aftermath of such an event. The book was the event, and a description of life up to the event. I was left with the disquieting feeling that the author was forever stuck in the day of the wave.
I thought this book was interesting because of the way that she describes her grief process and how different it was from others that I'd read. However, I had a hard time finishing it.
This book is beautifully written about a tragic event. It is also an amazing example of watching somebody go through so many emotions: Happiness and normalcy, panic and terror,realization and grief.
A very real account of the debilitating sadness after the author loses her family. Difficult to read, and even harder to imagine. I found the timeline in the book a little scattered though.