this was supposed to be a june read but i picked it up again two days ago and could not put it down again. beautiful and so so heartbreaking. i was not here to witness the civil war in all its brutality. reading brotherless night gave a glimpse into it. 

Came into this expecting a bit of type 2 fun but this was actually so gripping and had me at loath to put it down. It was really interesting and horrifying to learn about the Sri Lankan civil war and I think it is really impressive that Ganeshananthan wove in all of these important learnings into the story very smoothly, without it feeling forced. The interpersonal relationships in this book were so great, and to me, it is a story of what the war did to Sashi's relationships with her family, friends, teachers.

also, Ganeshananthan is a bigger savage than GRRM, everyone will die hope thats ok

I think the way that the war was described also gave you a very strong idea of why it happened and why people made these decisions but also how unecessary it was. I also loved the exploration of what a 'terrorist' is and the bits where Ganeshananthan talks in first person to you to explain bits of language and how things are in Tamil/english.

docked half a star as I think the last section got weaker than the first few, I think at this point the events were a bit less seamlessly interwoven with the story and felt more effort to get through. Also, I think that sometimes the characters could feel a little tropey, but I don't think it had a large impact on the story. also, this is partially a my own ignorance thing, but I felt a little confused about how safe it was to exist in Jaffna/the university/Colombo over time in the story.

Spoiler. Sri Lankan civil war over the 1980s to 2009.  

devastating, informative, vivid, and educational. a master work of history recorded through fiction. am recommending to all, still thinking about this book. still reeling