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A review by sonalipawar26
A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
3.0
Right off the bat, not for me.
This book is Krishan's meditation on the after-effects of the Sri Lankan civil war from an individual's viewpoint who was more-or-less privileged during the war and had come across someone who had only suffered during it.
Books are art and, as readers, we are mere spectators; everyone has their own perspective towards books, as each individual consumes them differently. And the way I absorbed A Passage North was different than most.
There was a time when I was into ruminative writing, I reckon I do not have the energy for them anymore. For me, if not the plot, the character(s) has to do something, go through some sort of a change for me to be involved heart and soul. But A Passage North is a prose-driven book wherein sentences run long—without full stops—and paragraphs run as long as 2–3 pages. As someone who is into character- and plot-driven stories, I don't think I was the right audience for this book. The entire experience of reading was akin to entering a maze and getting lost in it. At one point I thought I'll forever be inside Krishan's mind.
I understand Krishan's endless musings on his one-sided love with Anjum, but I don't get the point of it. Did I miss out on something? Moreover, its slow pace made it a tedious read; I had to constantly push myself to pick it up and make a dent into it; especially in the beginning.
The narrative was akin to how one starts a conversation that leads to another conversation, which in turn, leads to another and another, making you forget how you even arrived at the current topic of conversation.
But hey, there were several things that I loved about this one, too. There is no denying the fact that Arudpragasam is without doubt a master of his craft. As an editor, this book was a delight to read. The editor in me was pleased with the correctly placed punctuation and the way he weaved his sentences to form something so impactful.
This one was surely out of my comfort zone, a book that moved me at some places and did nothing for me at another. It almost made me feel that I read it for no reason at all. I do get why it has been shortlisted for the Booker prize; the prose is beyond beautiful. I'm happy that a South Asian author has made it to the shortlist. And I hope it throws light on the civil war and urges people to read about it.
This book is Krishan's meditation on the after-effects of the Sri Lankan civil war from an individual's viewpoint who was more-or-less privileged during the war and had come across someone who had only suffered during it.
Books are art and, as readers, we are mere spectators; everyone has their own perspective towards books, as each individual consumes them differently. And the way I absorbed A Passage North was different than most.
There was a time when I was into ruminative writing, I reckon I do not have the energy for them anymore. For me, if not the plot, the character(s) has to do something, go through some sort of a change for me to be involved heart and soul. But A Passage North is a prose-driven book wherein sentences run long—without full stops—and paragraphs run as long as 2–3 pages. As someone who is into character- and plot-driven stories, I don't think I was the right audience for this book. The entire experience of reading was akin to entering a maze and getting lost in it. At one point I thought I'll forever be inside Krishan's mind.
I understand Krishan's endless musings on his one-sided love with Anjum, but I don't get the point of it. Did I miss out on something? Moreover, its slow pace made it a tedious read; I had to constantly push myself to pick it up and make a dent into it; especially in the beginning.
The narrative was akin to how one starts a conversation that leads to another conversation, which in turn, leads to another and another, making you forget how you even arrived at the current topic of conversation.
But hey, there were several things that I loved about this one, too. There is no denying the fact that Arudpragasam is without doubt a master of his craft. As an editor, this book was a delight to read. The editor in me was pleased with the correctly placed punctuation and the way he weaved his sentences to form something so impactful.
This one was surely out of my comfort zone, a book that moved me at some places and did nothing for me at another. It almost made me feel that I read it for no reason at all. I do get why it has been shortlisted for the Booker prize; the prose is beyond beautiful. I'm happy that a South Asian author has made it to the shortlist. And I hope it throws light on the civil war and urges people to read about it.