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Anuk Arudpragasam

Teoksen A Passage North tekijä

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Tietoja tekijästä

Includes the name: Anuk Arudpragasam

Tekijän teokset

A Passage North (2021) 321 kappaletta
The Story of a Brief Marriage (2016) 269 kappaletta
Nach Norden 1 kappale

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Yleistieto

Jäseniä

Keskustelut

Kirja-arvosteluja

Rating: 4/5

TW: Death, PTSD

A book that takes you through a journey of reflecting upon life and accepting the process of death, A PASSAGE NORTH, is one of the most indulging piece of fiction I have read this year.

Devoid of dialogue with sentences that last pages, Anuk Arudpragasam managed to deliver topics that felt so personal and hit me with waves of nostalgia more than once. The book, divided into 3 sections - Message, Journey and Burning begins with the MC, Krishan, receiving the news of demise of his grandmother's care-taker, Rani over a phone call.

What follows is a trip to the ever-so philosophical mind of Krishan where he recollects, introspects and comes to terms with several aspects of his past and the death of Rani.

Mundane things such as taking a walk, smoking a cigarette, travelling on a train are explained in such detail that you will be transported to the said circumstances and will not be able to help but relate with them.

The MC reflects on his previous relationship with Anjum, a queer woman from Bangalore, his train journey with her, his grand mother's daily routine and past few years of her life, the conversations he has had with Rani regarding the loss she has faced in the war and it's impact on her mental health and many more while taking a train to attend Rani's funeral.

The detail in which the MC remembers little moments he had shared with his then girlfriend and a few with his grand-mother on multiple instances in the book, reiterates how impactful these little moments are and how such memories have a silent power to shape us.

I related so much to how he processed Rani's death, having gone through a similar process with the death of my grand father.

It was also interesting to learn about the struggle for freedom in Sri Lanka, their Hindu funeral rituals and how similar they are to that of India.

Overall, the book encapsulated a lot of emotions and thoughts that will stay imbibed in your mind for a while. A great book to read and definitely a contender for the short-list!

I am extremely thankful to the author for referencing the stories and poems that he had explained in such detail with respect to how the MC had perceived it in the acknowledgements. It will be helpful in a journey to find, read and interpret those stories with our own minds.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
AnrMarri | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Aug 1, 2023 |
Door een toeval (of niet?) is dit nu de tweede roman op korte tijd die ik lees van een Srilankese auteur. ‘The Seven Moons of Mali Almeida’ van Shehan Karunatilaka overrompelde me door de hilarisch-sarcastische toon waarmeer de harde realiteit van de Srilankese burgeroorlog in de verf werd gezet. Het boek van Arudpragasam is heel andere koek. Ook dat gaat wel over de wreedheid van de oorlog, maar de invalshoek en de toonzetting is helemaal anders. Arudpragasam volgt de jonge Krishan die met de trein onderweg is naar de begrafenis van de verzorgster van zijn grootmoeder. In een vernuftige compositie blijven we heel de tijd in het hoofd van Krishan, met voortdurend mijmeringen over het oorlogstrauma van die verzorgster, over zijn afgebroken relatie met de bloedmooie Anjum die blijkbaar gekozen heeft voor een radicaal engagement, over zijn eigen schuldgevoelens over zijn afgeschermd leven, enzovoort. Er is een verhaallijn, maar die is eigenlijk flinterdun en ontspint zich erg traag, in soms erg lange zinnen, regelmatig onderbroken door filosofische beschouwingen en verwijzingen naar vertellingen uit de boeddhistische en hindoeïstische traditie. Al meteen bij het begin zet Arudpragasam de toon door een anderhalve pagina lange filosofische beschouwing over het fenomeen van de tijd, hoezeer het heden aan ons kleeft, en zowel verleden als toekomst daardoor onbereikbaar achter de horizon blijven. “The present, we assume, is eternally before us, one of the few things in life from which we cannot be parted. It overwhelms us in the painful first moments of entry into the world, when it is still too new to be managed or negotiated, remains by our side during childhood and adolescence, in those years before the weight of memory and expectation, and so it is sad and a little unsettling to see that we become, as we grow older, much less capable of touching, grazing, or even glimpsing it, that the closest we seem to get to the present are those brief moments we stop to consider the spaces our bodies are occupying, the intimate warmth of the sheets in which we wake, the scratched surface of the window on a train taking us somewhere else, as if the only way we can hold time still is by trying physically to prevent the objects around us from moving.”.
Die verwijzingen naar het mysterieuze fenomeen van de tijd keren telkens terug, zowel in verband met Rani, met Anjum als met het oorlogsverleden, en deden me sterk aan het schema van de Duitse temporaliteitsfilosoof Reinhart Koselleck denken. Het geeft meteen ook het cerebrale gehalte van deze roman aan, dat versterkt wordt door de soms lange meanderende zinnen die aan Thomas Bernhardt en Javier Marias doen denken. Om maar te zeggen dat dit boek wellicht de lezer die een sterk verhaal verwacht niet zal bekoren. Als er al evolutie in deze roman zit, dan is het in de manier waarop Krishna in het reine komt met zijn schuldgevoel, met zijn afgebroken relatie, met leven en dood in het algemeen. Dat maakt dat de bedachtzame, fijnzinnige, introspectieve toon en structuur van deze roman van een zeldzaam hoog niveau. Ik ben erg benieuwd wat Arudpragasam nog uit zijn mouw zal schudden.
… (lisätietoja)
½
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
bookomaniac | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Feb 26, 2023 |
The marriage and the novel are both brief; but the story is as long as civilization.

Behind the photos of refugees that we see in the news there are people trying to live lives. To do normal things. Big things like marrying. Small things like having a meal together.

The grief is beyond tears.

Read this book! I mean, LISTEN!
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
kjuliff | 15 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 17, 2023 |
This is a beautifully written, introspective book that follows the thoughts of protagonist Krishan. It is set in Sri Lanka and contains only the barest thread of a plot. His grandmother’s caretaker, Rani, has died after traveling back to her home in northern Sri Lanka. Krishan journeys by train from Colombo to attend the funeral. Rani has experienced multiple tragedies in her life, including the violent deaths of two sons in the country’s civil war. As Krishan travels, he remembers people and events that have had a lasting impact on him and the people he loves.

Krishan’s thoughts address many aspects of life, such as love, loss, grief, aging, death, desire, yearning, and memory. He recalls the violence that changed so many lives. His thoughts return regularly to three women: his mother, grandmother, and his first love. He thinks about the war and its lingering impact a decade later. It is a philosophical book that examines the aftermath of the country’s civil war and how we spend our time on this earth.

I am amazed at the author’s ability to capture nuances, subtleties, and interpretations of what is seen, heard, and felt. Krishan’s thoughts flow from one topic to the next, as thoughts tend to do. I felt totally immersed in this story. I stopped several times just to contemplate. It is not one to rush through. I will definitely re-read this novel and can envision it winning literary prizes.

“Waking up each morning we follow by circuitous routes the thread of habit, out of our homes, into the world, and back to our beds at night, move unseeingly through familiar paths, one day giving way to another and one week to the next, so that when in the midst of this daydream something happens and the thread is finally cut, when, in a moment of strong desire or unexpected loss, the rhythms of life are interrupted, we look around and are quietly surprised to see that the world is vaster than we thought.”

The audio book is narrated by Neil Shah. His narration is quiet, almost somber, and fits the content. I listened to it twice and feel audio is a great vehicle for digesting the lengthy, stream-of-consciousness style sentences.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Castlelass | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Oct 30, 2022 |

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Associated Authors

Neil Shah Narrator

Tilastot

Teokset
3
Jäseniä
591
Suosituimmuussija
#42,466
Arvio (tähdet)
3.8
Kirja-arvosteluja
24
ISBN:t
26
Kielet
3
Kuinka monen suosikki
1

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