All is BurningIn these stories Jean Arasanayagam brings us voices that are not normally heard: those of anonymous men and women searching for order and reason in the midst of a ruthless civil war. While many succumb to the horror of their times, there are others who discover in themselves unexpected reserves that will help them survive. Thus a young Sinhala man turns his back on an aimless upper-class existence and joins a group of Tamil refugees smuggling themselves into Germany; a woman goes out alone to see the scene of a carnage to try and find her daughter's lover among the dead and dying; a maid returns from the rich desert city of Doha to the green half-jungle of her village in northern Sri Lanka and rediscovers happiness despite the uncertain future...In addition to stories about the effects of war and violence, this collection also explores aspects of ethnicity and individual choice in a multicultural society. All is Burning is truth-telling at its poignant best. 'Jean Arasanayagam's writing contains some of the most powerful and truthful stories to come out of Sri Lanka...She is a wonderful writer and should be read everywhere.' 'Jean Arasanayagam is one of the most significant voices writing in Sri Lanka today. Her fiction is deeply political in the very best sense of the word, concerned as it is with personal politics of post-colonial identity. Her luminous prose enables her to go straight to the core of her characters' social and personal dilemmas.' --Professor John Thieme, Department of English, The University of Hull |
From inside the book
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Page 61
... lives in Christ . We cannot achieve it in or by ourselves . This is obvious to us as we look round and see in some places the highest human hopes come crumbling in the dust and in others lives , rich with promise , suddenly cut off in ...
... lives in Christ . We cannot achieve it in or by ourselves . This is obvious to us as we look round and see in some places the highest human hopes come crumbling in the dust and in others lives , rich with promise , suddenly cut off in ...
Page 196
... lives of their possessors . They could be bought , taken away ; they could enhance other lives that had lost their identities and took their colour briefly from a cosmopolitan social milieu . These outsiders , these aliens , could ...
... lives of their possessors . They could be bought , taken away ; they could enhance other lives that had lost their identities and took their colour briefly from a cosmopolitan social milieu . These outsiders , these aliens , could ...
Page 368
... live here . The natames lounge about after unloading the lorries with their huge curved hooks beside them . They use ... lives . Fed through the bars . Let out like animals , then locked in again . Without any hope of escape or release ...
... live here . The natames lounge about after unloading the lorries with their huge curved hooks beside them . They use ... lives . Fed through the bars . Let out like animals , then locked in again . Without any hope of escape or release ...
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Common terms and phrases
apples arrack asked asylum seekers Aunty Bangalore beautiful belonged Bhikkus birds blue body brother burning Camille chiffonier clothes coconut Colombo colour crowds cut-pieces dark daughter death Dewa Domingos door dukkha everything eyes face father fear feel felt flesh flowers friends fruit garden girl gold grass green guerrillas hair hands husband Janine Jasmine journey jungle Kandy knew leave light lives look Lydia Madurai Marcia marriage married Meena Melwyn mind mother Mungo Nanna never night once past pavement perhaps Potter wasps prawn pray Radha road round rupees sambara saree sarong says Serena Shariff shirt silent silk Sinhala sister skin sleep Sometimes stood streets Sulo talk temple things thought trees trishaw veena veshti village voices waiting walk walls watch woman women young