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A review by adam613
A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
5.0
"He couldn't help thinking, as the train hurtled closer toward his destination, that he'd traversed not any physical distance that day but rather some vast psychic distance inside him, that he'd been advancing not form the island's south to north but from the south of his mind to its own distant north reaches."
In this Booker-shortlisted novel, Anuk Arudpragasam writes about Krishan's journey to the Northern Province of war-torn Sri Lanka to attend his grandmother's caretaker's. On this trip, Krishan's mind explores his past as well as that of his native land while exploring the abundant range of the human psyche navigating themes of longing, love, loss, grief and acceptance.
A Passage North is written in a stream-of-consciousness style of writing that is completely immersive and intoxicating as Arudpragasam has created an eloquent exploration of the internal and external aspects of Krishan's life. A Passage North explores and reminds us all that the real value in traveling, is the inner journey that is more long-lasting in its effects than the destination itself. Though oftentimes, the destination is a necessary part of that meaningful passage more into our truer selves. I am glad I took this dive into Anuk Arudpgrasam's A Passage North which is eloquent, unique and universal. Taking this ride, was more than worth it in all the ways.
"It had been in those months waiting probably that he'd first become aware of the absence inside him, the longing for a life that existed beyond the boundaries of the Colombo and Sri Lanka he knew, an absence that he hadn't felt as an absence so much as a kind of willingness to be drawn elsewhere, an absence that made him paradoxically more present to the world around him, more deliberately aware of its surfaces and textures and moods."
In this Booker-shortlisted novel, Anuk Arudpragasam writes about Krishan's journey to the Northern Province of war-torn Sri Lanka to attend his grandmother's caretaker's. On this trip, Krishan's mind explores his past as well as that of his native land while exploring the abundant range of the human psyche navigating themes of longing, love, loss, grief and acceptance.
A Passage North is written in a stream-of-consciousness style of writing that is completely immersive and intoxicating as Arudpragasam has created an eloquent exploration of the internal and external aspects of Krishan's life. A Passage North explores and reminds us all that the real value in traveling, is the inner journey that is more long-lasting in its effects than the destination itself. Though oftentimes, the destination is a necessary part of that meaningful passage more into our truer selves. I am glad I took this dive into Anuk Arudpgrasam's A Passage North which is eloquent, unique and universal. Taking this ride, was more than worth it in all the ways.
"It had been in those months waiting probably that he'd first become aware of the absence inside him, the longing for a life that existed beyond the boundaries of the Colombo and Sri Lanka he knew, an absence that he hadn't felt as an absence so much as a kind of willingness to be drawn elsewhere, an absence that made him paradoxically more present to the world around him, more deliberately aware of its surfaces and textures and moods."