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not_another_ana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
He couldn't even remember what it was like to spend time with another person, to simply be in someone else's company, and perhaps it would be worthwhile to do so if he could.
In an evacuee camp in the middle of Sri Lanka's civil war Dinesh, a Tamil youth, is shaken out of the monotony of surviving by a sudden proposal: to marry Ganga, a young woman he has never met before. Ganga's father believes that their union will make sure his daughter is taken care of, while Dinesh might avoid being conscripted by the militia. Thus starts this short odd marriage, between two people who don't know each other and must come to terms with what this means for them, for their future if there's any left, and what being close to someone after so long can do to someone in the middle of a war zone.
Meditative and detail oriented, this is a book that focuses on how the experience of war, of being displaced, bombed, losing everything marks people. Dinesh is disconnected from himself as a way to protect his sanity. He can't feel anything because if he does, even for a second, he won't be able to go on. He's all alone surrounded by death doing the same thing day in and day out. The marriage proposal and wedding break that monotony and force him to reckon with the situation and with himself, and the author expresses this through Dinesh's relationship with his body.
The prose is detail oriented and takes us on this reconnection journey with a slight stream of consciousness. It mostly happens internally in the main character and, while interesting and lovingly crafted, can get a bit heavy at times. There's long descriptions of bodily functions that never manage to be too crass because they're balanced by the poetry of it all. It is deeply sad and moving, the title being an inescapable premonition for the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Gore, and Excrement
The book takes place during Sri Lanka's civil war, specifically in an evacuee camp that gets bombed daily. There are descriptions of death, body parts, amputations, children suffering, etc.gilnean's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy
eve_kadou's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and War
victoriathuyvi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Excrement
amysou0204's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book started off very slow, then in the middle there were some interesting parts, followed by more slow parts, and then an exciting part, only to finish on a somewhat unresolved ending. While the writing is very descriptive and paints vivid images where you can truly see the horrors of the war and what the main character's life is like, the entire book spans about 2 or 3 days so it is extremely slow paced and it took me a very long time to finish as I had a hard time finding the motivation to keep reading in certain parts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail
flavoredfaeman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Sexual violence
apurvanagpal's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5
It’s been days since I finished reading The Story Of A Brief Marriage but I absolutely can’t stop thinking about it! There’s still a lingering presence of Anuk Arudpragasam’s words, a quiet meditative and poetic quality that despite the tense setting let’s you embody his character’s space, defenceless against his vivid attention to detail.
Set over the course of a single day, nearing the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, the story follows Dinesh, who’s living in a makeshift shelter near a refugee camp after he was forced to leave his home and lost his family moving between camps. On this particular day, an elderly man approaches him and proposes that he marry his daughter Ganga, thinking that it’d bring some kind of security to them both. Under the circumstances the suggestion though absurd, felt slightly reassuring to Dinesh, thinking about sharing space with another human being after so long.
What unfolds is a careful exploration of the human mind and body in the aftermath of trauma; how we perceive and survive when there’s death all around, how our thoughts become loud and we suddenly become too aware of the inner functioning of the body, detached from the outer world.
Words that lie unspoken between Dinesh and Ganga hang in the air above them like the inevitable danger looming at the end of every hour and it makes Dinesh lose a sense of reality, trying to hold on to the brief ray of hope, stuck between a past that seems too far away and a future that promises nothing but uncertainty.
As with my previous brush with Anuk’s writing in A Passage North, his stories draw so much from the political backdrop it’s set against, without letting that take away from the character’s line of story and I thought it was beautifully done and devastating at the same time.
The only thing that kept me from entirely loving it was perhaps how it ‘dragged’ a little in between, Anuk’s long sentences and his too precise account of every bodily sensation that Dinesh was experiencing.
Apart from that, it’s exceptional how it has managed to capture layers of tender and harsh moments intricately woven within a 24 hour time frame.
Heartbreaking, poignant and deeply moving!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War
mpolkadot_'s review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and War
luise96's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, and War
megan_bbender's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book is not very entertaining, but it is more than just words on a page. The author is trying to convey a message between the lines however I am still unclear on what it is supposed to be. I think it is important to be open-minded and to pay attention to truly grasp what the author is saying, but unfortunately due to the over extreme amounts of detail I didn't have the energy to continue trying.
Although this book is beautifully written, sometimes there is just too much. I often found myself rereading pages to understand what was going on and at some parts I was skimming the pages rather than reading them.
Although this book is beautifully written, sometimes there is just too much. I often found myself rereading pages to understand what was going on and at some parts I was skimming the pages rather than reading them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Violence and Blood
Minor: Cursing and Sexual violence