V. V. Ganeshanathan

Tyger Tyger burning bright

Media: Audio
Read by Nirmala Rajasingam
Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins

Written in the form of a chronical, Brotherless Night tells the fictionalized story of a young woman’s life during the early years of the Sri Lanka civil war. It’s told from the vantage point of the young woman whose journey ends in her settling in New York before the civil war has ended.

The story starts with sixteen year old Sashi, the young Tamil girl who is living comfortably with her family in Sri Lanka. But there is unrest in their country.

In 1983 ethnic tensions erupted into an all-out civil war which was to last 25 years. The war was fought between the Tamil Tigers (predominantly Hindu) and the Sinhalese government forces (predominantly Buddhist). After some years the Indian government sent troops - supposedly as peace keepers, but becoming another source of violence.

At times I was reminded of Adiche’s Half of a Yellow Sun set in present day Nigeria, where the ethnic divisions, encouraged by the colonizing British caused problems when they left after favoring an ethinic minority. In Nigerians it was the Biafrans, in Sri Lanka it was the Tamils.

Knowing something of modern Sri Lankan history is a help in reading Brotherless Nights, but is not necessary. The story stops before the war ends.

I’m not going to give a synopsis of the book as you can easily find it elsewhere. But a few aspects of what is essentially a piece of historical fiction stood out.

The format is that of a chronical. Sashi is writing down the events as she experiences them. Where do these events come from? They are fiction but based on actual history. The chronicle is told in first person by the made-up character of Sashi. Ganeshanathan has researched the history, the participants and events, from her home in the U.S where she was born of Sri Lankan parents.

Knowing this I was disconcerted at times. It reads as if it was autobiographical but we know it is not. Most events are either anecdotal or completely made-up, as are the characters. So there’s a lack of authenticity though of course similar events occurred many times, and the characters are based on real people or amalgamations thereof. The descriptions are so realistic that they become believable but we know they are not.

It’s a chronical, but fictionalized and there’s some editorializing. There’s also some introspection. In the final chapter Sashi looks back on her life and the historical records (which is in fact the book we are reading) which she has been maintaining in order that the truth gets out. We are reading about the book we are reading.

There’s also the way that Sashi talks directly to the reader with questions like “What would you do in such a situation?” and, “Do you think he’ll answer the door?”. The first time this happened I thought that I’d misread and had to go back to check, but then I got used to it. I half-expected to find out that Sashi was in fact addressing one of her brothers, and that remains a possibility for me.

I liked Brotherless Night. I ended up liking Ganeshanathan‘s style, though at first I thought I would tire of the novel. I became engrossed. I liked the nuance and the political detail, some of which was new to me.

I do wonder whether Ganeshanathan will write another novel. The only other novel she’s written to date was her debut, Love Marriage and it was during the writing of that novel that she came upon the idea of Brotherless Night wich took her over ten years. She’s American now and I feel she will need to move on. The success of Brotherless Night lies a lot in its subject matter.

The timing of Brotherless Night is apt for the 2023-4 reader. With the terrorism, the accusation of human shields, the collateral damage, the reader has to keep her mind to stop fleeting to the situation in Gaza.

Even with my reservations I have to highly recommend this book. There’s something about it that speaks to the reader that is beyond its exhaustive research. It speaks to the heart.… (más)

4.5⭐rounded up!

“Imagine the places you grew up, the places you studied, places that belonged to your people, burned. But I should stop pretending that I know you. Perhaps you do not have to imagine. Perhaps your library, too, went up in smoke.”

In 1981 Jaffna, sixteen-year-old Sashikala “Sashi” Kulenthiren dreams of becoming a doctor just like her eldest brother Niranjan and her late grandfather who was a renowned physician in Colombo. But as the civil war in Sri Lanka intensifies and violence ensues between the warring factions- the Sinhalese government and the Tamil militants who are fighting for an independent state free of persecution of the Tamils, life as she has known it shall be changed forever. When one of her brothers loses his life in an act of anti-Tamil violence and two of her brothers and a family friend join the “movement” Sashi finds herself making choices and being drawn into a life she had never imagined for herself- a medical student also working as a medic for those serving in the movement. As she bears witness to the politics, the violence, and the activism of the 1980s she eventually embarks on exposing the true plight of civilians caught in the crossfire between the warring factions of the Sinhalese government, Tamil militants and the Indian peacekeeping forces through the written word with the help of one of her professors taking risks that could endanger her life and those of her associates.

“I want you to understand: it does not matter if you cannot imagine the future. Still, relentless, it comes.”

Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan is a compelling read. Set in the early stages of Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war, the author takes us through the turbulence of 1980s Jaffna/Colombo including Black July and its aftermath, combining historical fact with fiction. The author writes with passion yet does not fill the pages with any excess – be it words or sentimentality. Narrated in the first person by our protagonist, Sashi, the tone is direct, often matter-of-fact yet there is much depth to the words, the characters and their stories. At times this book reads as a true account rather than a work of fiction. This is one of those rare books that is difficult to read yet impossible to put down.

Many thanks to the author, Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this exceptionally well-written novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

“It did not occur to me to count or prove, to measure our losses for history or for other people to understand or believe. I did not collect the evidence of my own destroyed life; I did not know people would ask me for it.”… (más)