This Divided Island

Starred review from January 4, 2016
In this engaging work of literary nonfiction, Subramanian (Following Fish), a New Delhiâbased journalist, provides a harrowing yet captivating account of wartime and postwar Sri Lanka. The decades-long conflict (with official dates of 1983â2009, though tensions date back to the '70s) was rooted in British colonial-era privileges of the minority Tamils, who "through quirks of colonial history" spoke better English and received better educations than the majority Sinhalese, and thus enjoyed various social and economic benefits. After independence in 1948, the Sinhalese, who had long resented Tamil privileges, engaged in aggressive, vindictive majoritarianism, enacting laws to protect Sinhalese interests and gradually erode Tamil rights and culture. Such discriminationâaccompanied by violent, retributive, and often state-sanctioned riots, as well as outright massacresâled to the rise of Tamil militant groups, most visibly the Tigers, who agitated for a separate, sovereign homeland and were prone to committing acts of terror against the government, civilians, rival militant groups, and insufficiently obedient members of their own ranks. Subramanian travels throughout postwar Sri Lanka and shares absorbing anecdotes and conversationsâwith former Tiger militants, former members of the armed forces, journalists, affected civilians, and even members of the international diasporaâwoven together with engaging, creative prose to forge a first-rate historical narrative. Subramanian's balanced, beautifully written reportorial travelogue smartly reveals Sri Lanka's complex conflict to international audiences.

October 15, 2015
In the wake of a 30-year guerrilla war, New Delhi-based journalist Subramanian (Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast, 2012, etc.) explores the root causes and human cost of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The author grew up in India, where he spoke Tamil, a background that granted him astonishing access to the Tamil-speaking people of Sri Lanka, where this minority has long suffered at the hands of the Sinhalese. Subramanian's approach to the civil war is both a rich travelogue and a deeply personal series of anecdotes. The author spent time with a range of survivors, collecting their life stories and weaving them seamlessly together. Yet the political climate in Sri Lanka is so convoluted that most of these accounts end in confusion. Early on, Subramanian describes the "Grease Yaka," mysterious figures who may (or may not) have been attacking rural women at night, and each faction blamed the others. This chapter sets the tone for the entire book, in which people chase shadows in an effort to comprehend their losses and rebuild their lives. One striking figure, Ananthy, insists that her husband surrendered to the regime and is still imprisoned somewhere, despite the authorities' claim that the veteran guerrilla is missing or dead. Subramanian chronicles atrocities on all sides, from the Tamil Tiger revolutionaries to the ruthless Sri Lankan military. By the final act, even the author was spent. "My brain refused to absorb the news of one more death," he writes, "as if it was just full to its brim and was now shutting down in protest." His reportage is strong, but stronger still is his prose; Subramanian writes with eloquence. Sri Lanka's plight is almost unknown in American media, but thanks to Subramanian's gifts, the war has finally found its English-language amanuensis. A highly readable and powerful account of an oft-ignored struggle and the lives it came to shatter.

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January 1, 2016

In this meticulously detailed cultural profile of Sri Lanka, journalist Subramanian brings compassion and genuine journalism to the history, culture, and devastating civil war in Sri Lanka. This harrowing and often heartbreaking tale is told with writing that reveals not only the horrors to be found in a small and unstable country but also the resilience and steadfastness of its people. Subramanian delves into all of the facets of a complex culture, from the importance of conversation and the social messages hidden in different speeches to the religion and how it impacted the rise and conflict of the war to detailed descriptions of the physical landscape and how that shaped the events of the conflict. With his keen journalistic eye, Subramanian illuminates the complexities and atrocities of a country and culture trying to establish its identity. VERDICT A great read by a stellar writer, this book is for those interested in world politics and social history. Sri Lanka doesn't get much notice from the Western world, but with Subramanian's study perhaps it will finally get the spotlight it deserves.--Kathleen Dupre, Edmond, OK

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