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A review by dawnblushes
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman
3.0
3.8 stars
this book was recommended by a friend. despite knowing that it would revolve around black july, i expected the writing style to be lighter and was a bit surprised by the tone. still, i enjoyed ru freeman's portrayal of sri lanka in the 80s, a time when political tensions mounted to an all-time high, and the way she weaved that escalation into the small community down sal mal lane.
the book gets prose-heavy and is character-driven, which i do love most of the time, although it did get a bit difficult to read with the number of characters that were in it. i think it would have been easier to read if it were focused on a few characters, and that way there'd be room for more development for characters aside from nihil and devi. i loved the relationship between the herath siblings, and how suren and rashmi changed during the course of the story, and would have appreciated some more time spent focused on them. i also felt as if some characters were there but did not contribute too much (rose, dolly, etc) and the plot progression was minimal during the middle of the book, which made it hard to get through.
i did like how the major political events of the time were brought into the story, and seeing how much a diverse community like those down sal male lane reacted to it. it was interesting to see how as tensions rose in the country, it reflected back in the small day-to-day interactions between people of different racial and religious backgrounds. one of my favourite things about this book was how the herath children were consistently unbothered by any of the differences between them, and others in the community. it goes to say that no one is truly born with prejudices. and that brings me to sonna. i thought that aside from devi (and maybe raju?) he was definitely the most tragic character and a testament of how goodness is the only thing that can breed goodness.
speaking of devi, i'm not sure how to feel about what happened to her at the end.
overall, i did like this book. i'm not sure if i would pick it up again because i felt like there were chunks where not much happened, and the overload of characters makes it tedious, but it definitely left me with a lot of questions, which i think a good read should :) pick this up if you're sri lankan/would just like to read about a small, tight-knit community in a time of uncertainty and injustice seeing through the eyes of children.
this book was recommended by a friend. despite knowing that it would revolve around black july, i expected the writing style to be lighter and was a bit surprised by the tone. still, i enjoyed ru freeman's portrayal of sri lanka in the 80s, a time when political tensions mounted to an all-time high, and the way she weaved that escalation into the small community down sal mal lane.
the book gets prose-heavy and is character-driven, which i do love most of the time, although it did get a bit difficult to read with the number of characters that were in it. i think it would have been easier to read if it were focused on a few characters, and that way there'd be room for more development for characters aside from nihil and devi. i loved the relationship between the herath siblings, and how suren and rashmi changed during the course of the story, and would have appreciated some more time spent focused on them. i also felt as if some characters were there but did not contribute too much (rose, dolly, etc) and the plot progression was minimal during the middle of the book, which made it hard to get through.
i did like how the major political events of the time were brought into the story, and seeing how much a diverse community like those down sal male lane reacted to it. it was interesting to see how as tensions rose in the country, it reflected back in the small day-to-day interactions between people of different racial and religious backgrounds. one of my favourite things about this book was how the herath children were consistently unbothered by any of the differences between them, and others in the community. it goes to say that no one is truly born with prejudices. and that brings me to sonna. i thought that aside from devi (and maybe raju?) he was definitely the most tragic character and a testament of how goodness is the only thing that can breed goodness.
speaking of devi, i'm not sure how to feel about what happened to her at the end.
Spoiler
the way the book was set up made it obvious that something bad would happen to her, although i didn't think she would die. i figured that raju would have had something to do with it, and that made me anxious during every scene the two of them were together. still, i don't understand why sonna did what he did? perhaps he was envious of how devi received all the love he never did. this is something to think about. but it was just devastating how nihil was constantly anxious about his sister, though it's a question whether devi's end is meant to encourage superstition? rather, maybe the author intended her death as a metaphor for the senseless violence in the community, seeing that the name devi is ambiguous of the two main racial groups in the story - the sinhalese and the tamils. either way, it was incredibly sad to read about.overall, i did like this book. i'm not sure if i would pick it up again because i felt like there were chunks where not much happened, and the overload of characters makes it tedious, but it definitely left me with a lot of questions, which i think a good read should :) pick this up if you're sri lankan/would just like to read about a small, tight-knit community in a time of uncertainty and injustice seeing through the eyes of children.