Book Review: The Story Of A Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam

The final days of the Sri Lankan civil war were truly terrible for those caught up in it.

Philosophy student Anuk Arudpragasam’s first novel concerns a day in the life of Dinesh, a young man caught between Government forces and the ever-present danger of being conscripted into what he refers to as “the movement” – the wretched remains of the once formidable Tamil Tigers guerrilla army.

His existence of sheer survival changes when he’s approached by a man requesting that he marry his daughter for her safety.

Set in a refugee camp subjected to nightly bombardment, this is a tale with the emotional power of a Greek tragedy – a Euripidean Trojan Women with white beaches and neem trees.

And it’s told with a hallucinatory attention to detail that makes it feel like a first-hand account, although Arudpragasam (himself a Tamil) was fortunately shielded from the worst excesses of the conflict.

Now he bears witness for the silenced victims, shattering our complacency with an unsentimental depiction of human beings in extremis that is also a heartbreaking love story.

Published by Granta Books