Savanadasa has drawn on an historical event that may not be as well known as some in recent years. The characters and their worlds are set on a course of collision as secrets are revealed, and a journey to an ancient city reveals prejudices and the family, rooted in the old and the new, begins to unravel. The ancient and modern worlds collide: the traditions of class and race, and expectations of men and women of the old world that Mano, Lakshmi and Latha have been a part of collide with the rapidly changing world Anoushka and Niranjan are growing up in.
In doing so, the reader is able to understand how each member of the family is affected by the world and the decisions they make: nobody is perfect, they are all flawed – they are human. Each point of view is told in first person, with each character being given a chapter where the reader can explore the world from their point of view throughout the novel. Her brother, Niranjan just wants to escape this world and make his life somewhere else, whilst their parents, Mano and Lakshmi, are preoccupied with the distance forming between them: Mano wants his wife back, and Lakshmi is worried about a lost boy, whose fate is unknown. Daughter Anoushka wants an iPod, and to be a modern girl, who doesn’t want to be too traditional.
Latha, the servant, desires nothing more than a home, a place she can feel safe. Amidst these shadows, a family is slowly crumbling like the ruins around them. Set in Sri Lanka, in Colombo, in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war, shadows of war and threats to daily life still exist.
Ruins is a book unlike others I have read. Anoushka wants an iPod.Īnd Niranjan needs big money so he can leave them all behind. In the restless streets, crowded waiting rooms and glittering nightclubs of Colombo, five family members find their bonds stretched to breaking point in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war. Synopsis: A country picking up the pieces, a family among the ruins. *I received a copy of this from the publisher for review*
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