Won't the slightest tremor bare the raw anger underneath yet again? This was the lesson the hollow reconciliation of World War 1 taught us. And yet we forget. This is an important book, but I doubt if the island nation understands that their peace is as fragile as a taped up china teacup.
It will hold for some time, but you don't know for how long, and you certainly can't drink tea in it anyway. View 1 comment. Jan 30, Sian rated it really liked it. This brought me to tears, stirring up inside me a passion for justice. Read this book if you care about injustice. Oct 10, Vicki rated it it was amazing. An excellent account of the civil war that explains a conflict little understood in this country.
The human cost of the war is plainly exposed, mostly through the first-person accounts of survivors. A very important book, a must for anyone seeking to understand Sri Lanka, or indeed war itself.
Nov 17, Suresh rated it really liked it. Very well written. It must have been an effort to trace the few survivors in various countries across South Asia and Europe and get them to share their traumatic experiences. It shows the extent to which the Sri Lankan government went to mislead its own citizens, not that neighboring governments do not. It also shows the ineffectiveness of the UN bureaucracy and the practical approach that agencies like Red Cross had to adopt.
Subsequent events including disappearance of journalists - both Tamil Very well written. What would have made it even better and a unbiased one - would have been greater coverage of the Sri Lankan government's views. It clearly illustrates the chronology of the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka which is not well understood by casual observers.
In the broader context - there are two points made - how can we prevent rampant misuse of power by governments and how do we devolve power so that local communities are able to make decisions - better suited to them. Will efforts by the citizens of Sri Lanka, the UN reports and acknowledgment of public apologies made by Governments across the world for their mistakes influence the future Sri Lankan governments finally apologise and take remedial action is a moot question?
Jan 23, Nallasivan V. There is no other better source of information on war than first hand accounts. All human endeavours can be seen in two levels: at the human scale and the bigger picture. But of all human endeavours, War is probably the only one where the bigger picture cannot be justified by ignoring the things at the human scale.
Frances Harrison illustrates this very clearly with her book. It is a collection of stories of real people - mostly civilians and a few Tamil Tigers - during the last few months of th There is no other better source of information on war than first hand accounts. It is a collection of stories of real people - mostly civilians and a few Tamil Tigers - during the last few months of the Sri Lankan Civil war when the Sri Lankan Military as well as the Tamil Tigers took strategic decisions which are never justifiable outside their ideologies.
The Sri Lankan military dropped all its sensibility to go out an full-out war driven by tamil-phobia. The tamil tigers on the other hand, betrayed their own kind for tactical reasons and tried to get the civilian body count up so that UN intervenes. What emerges is a terrifying tale of tamil civilians caught between the devil and the deap sea.
The book raises scary questions for international community also: The ineffectiveness of UN, the moral ambiguity of nations like US, India and China who didn't question SL for their own strategic reasons. If things are as bad as the book portrays the ethnic situation in SL is still precarious and waiting to explode.
Feb 25, Vijay Raj rated it really liked it. Here are some really gory accounts of the war crimes committed by the LTTE and the srilankan army. The book is well-written, and I am surprised about the completely un-biased stance that the author takes, although it seemed to me that the book was slightly bent against the srilankan army. This may still be reflecting on reality though. The description of events is also very good, as I could imagine the scene described most of the times, and some events moved me to tears.
The author also scores in correlating intersection points between different stories. Two things went missing - we heard about the views of the civilians who were in the cross-fire, but not from soldiers in the srilankan army I am specifically not mentioning diplomats because they were not in the frontline, and you know what you will get from them anyway , and some sinhalese commoners living in the south of lanka on the lines of "what information was reaching the lankan common man".
That would have given a rounded perspective. Overall, a wonderful book. Jan 26, Matthew Griffiths rated it it was amazing. This book was an excellent account of what surely must be one of the least known and arguably most horrific conflicts to take place in recent years.
One thing that struck me from a very early stage of reading this book is that the author maintained an incredibly unbiased account of things considering what she was describing, never shying away from placing the relevant blame at the door of the LTTE as well as at the door of the Sri Lankan army.
Also another thing which was clear throughout the bo This book was an excellent account of what surely must be one of the least known and arguably most horrific conflicts to take place in recent years. Also another thing which was clear throughout the book was the careful way in which the author approached retelling the stories of those she had interviewed, at no point did it seem forced or exploitative. Oct 13, Wilfred Arasaratnam rated it it was amazing.
Stalin said that "One death a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" and I suppose the difficulty for many with getting their head around accounts and histories of genocide and persecution is the sheer scale of the horror. In this balanced, well-written and authoritative book, Frances Harrison has managed to overcome the paradox that Stalin mentioned by documenting survivor testimony in a compelling from nine survivors of the final months of the conflict.
Frances deftly weaves fact with evoca Stalin said that "One death a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" and I suppose the difficulty for many with getting their head around accounts and histories of genocide and persecution is the sheer scale of the horror.
Frances deftly weaves fact with evocative description taken from interviews with these survivors to uncover the horror of this conflict.
The shocking thing about this conflict is that the death toll and the horror of the conflict puts it in the same league as Afghanistan, Iraq or Darfur but few know about it.
It's worth reading and then worth considering why the world kept silent about it. Jun 27, Kira rated it it was amazing. These civilians were failed by those who claimed to be fighting for them, their country, and by the international community as a whole.
Especially frustrating is the fact that even today, civilians continue to suffer "It was a world in which death was so omnipresent that few expected to walk out alive. Especially frustrating is the fact that even today, civilians continue to suffer and die needlessly in Syria, South Sudan, and elsewhere.
An absolutely devastating and utterly painful read--I can't even begin to imagine the trauma and unspeakable horror of those who have actually lived those last few months.
All I can say is, while I never want to read this book again, it's a must-read and will always have a place on my shelf. Aug 30, Giridharan rated it it was amazing. Tales of unspeakable horrors endured by Srilankan Tamils during the civil war. Even as I was reading several real life account I was constantly reminded of how truth is stranger than fiction. It takes a lot of gunption to have survived the bloody war and more so to recount it. History tells us about gruesome wars of the past, the arson, pillages, rapes and murders but very few have survivors' accounts captured to this detail.
And this detail chills you to the bone not just because of how many hu Tales of unspeakable horrors endured by Srilankan Tamils during the civil war. And this detail chills you to the bone not just because of how many human rights crimes have been committed but how listless the international community's response has been in taking the criminals to task. Aug 27, Kathryn Cousins rated it really liked it. An incredibly moving compilation of accounts of survivors of the Sri Lankan war.
It is not a history of the war so doesn't offer reasons Or politics or insight; it is merely what it says it is in the introduction. Memoirs of those who survived, to give them a voice. The world didn't care about the thousands of Sri Lankan civilians who were killed in the war; if you read this you will be sad that you were probably part of this world who turned a blind eye. Sep 03, Polly rated it it was amazing. An utterly devastating and sobering account of Sri Lanka's civil war.
A necessary if difficult read. Sep 28, Sumit Singla rated it really liked it Shelves: most-disturbing , wobble-firebirds , , non-fiction , 4-stars. Having recently been to Sri Lanka on a mini-vacation, one would hardly imagine that less than a decade ago, this serene and lovely island was deeply mired in a devastating civil war. A war where the army used its power to crush not only the Tamil militants, but also countless innocent civilians.
Some of the incidents are plain shocking and inhuman. And what saddens me is the fact that some of Sri Lanka's neighbours including my home country, India and also world superpowers turned a blind eye t Having recently been to Sri Lanka on a mini-vacation, one would hardly imagine that less than a decade ago, this serene and lovely island was deeply mired in a devastating civil war.
And what saddens me is the fact that some of Sri Lanka's neighbours including my home country, India and also world superpowers turned a blind eye to the atrocities being committed in the name of destroying terrorists. In fact, Sri Lanka has become a case study for using an 'iron fist' to eliminate threats to national security.
War criminals and people without whose collusion the army could not have acted are still in positions of power and till date there is large army presence in areas with higher percentages of Tamil ethnicity.
Despite being a difficult read, this is a book that calls out to be read. War is terrible, war is evil and it is incredibly sad when people who wage war to drive their selfish agendas get away scot-free. Apr 15, Rachel Wilce rated it really liked it. I'm not really much of a non-fiction reader, usually choosing a book for an escape, but planning a trip to Sri Lanka later in the year meant that I picked up some recommended Roma Tearne novels, which led finding myself hungry for information about this terrible war that had so little documentation in the mainstream over here in the comfort of the UK.
I found this book shocking, upsetting, very well written and compulsive reading. A must read I think for anyone planning a trip over there, I find I'm not really much of a non-fiction reader, usually choosing a book for an escape, but planning a trip to Sri Lanka later in the year meant that I picked up some recommended Roma Tearne novels, which led finding myself hungry for information about this terrible war that had so little documentation in the mainstream over here in the comfort of the UK.
A must read I think for anyone planning a trip over there, I find it important to understand, or at least to try to understand somewhere that you're going to visit, and understand it in a way that goes beyond knowing how to ask for a beer! Reading this has made me determined to spend time with people during my visit, and also made me search out yet more information.
View 2 comments. Dec 23, Chisato Oguma rated it it was amazing. It took forever to finish the book. The stories of the Tamil survivors were too painful to read. But I felt obliged to read cover to cover especially because I needed to explore the truth behind the beauty and prosperity of the country that we see today as visitors.
The atmosphere of this country that the government is advertising is now hopeful, but I cannot help but agree with the conclusion of the book: "It's unrealistic to expect survivors just to put the war behind them The risk is that It took forever to finish the book. The risk is that next time it won't be just the Sinhalese they hate, but also the international community that abandoned them.
Jul 06, Rahul Sharma rated it it was amazing. An excellent account of the Sri Lanka's civil war. The spine chilling stories shake you up to the core. The book presents a balanced view as it talks about the human rights violations by the Tamil rebels also. As an Indian, I feel sorry that we did so little to stop these crimes happening in our neigh An excellent account of the Sri Lanka's civil war. As an Indian, I feel sorry that we did so little to stop these crimes happening in our neighboring state.
More so because the Sri Lankan Tamils trace their roots back to India! A very important book, a must for anyone who wants to understand Sri Lanka, or indeed war itself. Mar 31, Murugan rated it it was amazing.
A book filled with troubling accounts on the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Extreme cruelty and barbarism by the the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka directed against Tamil civilians and Tamil militant groups. Rape, murder and Torture appear to be the calling cards of the Sinhalese putting them on an even footing with the Nazis, Serbian extermination groups and the Pol Pot. Remember the name: Sri Lanka - Asia's Torture chamber. That is the only way to start my review of this book.
The facts of the end of the civil war and the survivors stories are not for the faint-hearted but must be told. The Tigers and the Government both get the bad press in this book. The outright killing of civilians should never be accepted but this happened and in the tens of thousands as well. Contact Us. Search Our Archive. Our Site. Subscribe To Our News Letter. Harrison, Francis. London: Portbolo Books, I was so disgusted. The whole system failed. Tens of thousands of civilians were slaughtered by the Sri Lankan government and the world just moved on.
It [the brutal carnage]just passed us by W ith a guilty conscience, that my life just moved on while hundreds of thousands of people suffered unimaginable cruelty right under my nose, I write this review. Every time I go back to the book Still Counting the Dead, I am ashamed of my insensitivity to those suffering masses, men and women stripped of their dignity. I knew. What embarrasses the most was my negligence despite the repeated updates about the brutal carnage in the other side of the ocean.
My life just moved on. I failed. The UN aid worker has put it rightly that we failed, the whole system failed and everyone of us failed to protect their lives, their dignity and their rights — the innocent civilians who were unjustly made to pay the price for the mistakes of a handful. Things have fared no better. It is alarming to know that I belong to a country India , which conveniently remains inactive for reasons no meaner than selfish politics.
Her confidence and sympathy as an insider familiar with ongoing dialogue and conflict between the warring parties, the living conditions and sufferings of the civilians at both ends has shaped her work sensitive and objective.
The author has crosschecked the evidences from testimonies with the parallel reports, data collected from other authentic sources and further substantiated with empirical data on the human casualties. The ten chapters presenting the testimonies of survivors respectively, the relevant empirical data at the end of every chapter, with the couple of maps, introduction, conclusion, and appendices, set a holistic, detailed picture of the war tone civilization.
The testimonies in the book include persons from different walks of life; from the well informed insiders like Pulidevan — the LTTE Spokesman, a Tamil Journalist and the fighter; the volunteers like a Doctor and a Catholic Nun; to innocent civilians like a Teacher and a Shopkeeper.
Sensitive to the global audience who may be caught unaware on this subject, the author has sandwiched sections between war stories that explain socio-economic and political situation of Sri Lanka. The book informs the reader about the country, its multi-ethnic culture, religions, the history of the ethnic conflicts, the rise of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam headed by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the parallel government established in the north, their relationship with the Tamil community in Diaspora, and the events that lead to the war.
All this - the history, the war, and the post war situation — is presented with an objective critique from the perspective of the defeated — the innocent civilians. In her book, Harrison does not spare either of the warring parties for the violence unleashed on innocent civilians living in two ends of the nation.
It tells the world about the cruelty of the war: strategic attack on innocent civilians in safe zones, the indiscriminate shelling on hospitals and people queued to collect rations, the sexual assault on rebel-captives and innocent civilians irrespective of their age and gender by the military, the unjust post-war treatment, the dehumanizing living conditions of the survivors, the mysterious disappearances of the young Tamil men and women, brutality of the detention centers and the trauma of their survivors.
The credit goes to Harrison. In fact, one of the anxieties of the survivors was that the war would go unaccounted with the diplomatic isolation of the International Community and media from the war zone. It is therefore a must read for everyone involved in promoting justice and peace, not to mention about those concerned with this war.
0コメント