mycouscous 's review for:

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

4.0

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How does one even begin to sum up a reaction to Deraniyagala's Wave, a book so personal that it hurts? With spare prose, Deraniyagala relates her survival of the 2004 tsunami that hit Sri Lanka and claimed the lives of her parents, husband, and two young boys. She is raw and honest in her depiction of her grief and depression, interspersing happy memories of her family that now bring her sadness to relive. Episodes such as the one in which she downs alcohol relentlessly or when she torments the new tenants of her parents' house are shocking, but you can't look away. There is no happy ending, no closure, but this book is stunning in its portrayal of living with the aftermath of a disaster. Deraniyagala pulls no punches and has crafted a beautiful, gut-wrenching, elegiac book.