In 1981 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 16-year-old Sashi wants to be a doctor. She has three older brothers who she looks up to and a younger brother who she wants to protect. The following decade brings a bloody civil war to their country and Sashi's medical dreams are disrupted while her brothers and their childhood friend K get swept up in the conflict.

I knew very little about the Sri Lankan war or the Tamil Tigers before reading this novel but it made me want to research more. I am delighted that it has been shortlisted for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction. I was fully invested in Sashi's story and my heart broke every time hers did. As you might expect, there is so much death, violence, injustice and loss in the novel and at times it seems relentless. I really believed that this authentically mirrored the emotions and tensions of war and Ganeshananthan manages to create a really believeable account of how such terror can affect a family -both those who join the movement and the civilians left behind. I was right there in the action, so I couldn't help but be caught up in the family and their fates.

It all felt so raw and real, so therefore it really isn't an easy read but somehow I couldn't stop reading.

This is so compelling. It is set during the civil war in Sri Lanka. The characters are so interesting. The writing is so emotional. A great book

I was captivated by the vivid and emotional depiction of Sri Lanka during a challenging period. The author's exploration of the complexities of various groups was insightful and the personal story added depth and meaning to the narrative. Overall, I found it to be an exceptional read.

Thank you to #Netgalley and # PenguinGroup for granting me access to this arc in return for an honest review.

V. V. Ganeshananthan writes a complex family saga during the Sri Lankan civil war in the 1980s. We bear witness through the eyes of Sashi, aged 16, as her family and her country are torn apart by war. This makes for a torturous coming-of-age for her, as she deals with her plans, education and growing up amid turmoil and violence in her community.
This is a profoundly moving work of fiction about real-life events, glossed over and forgotten (ignored) in the West. This is easily in the top 5 of my fiction reads for 2023.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

I was not a fan of the writing, it felt chopped and I didn't feel close to the characters. Unfortunately I put it down. I know a lot of other people loves it so try it!

Sashi want to be a doctor. Set in Sri Lanka during the long civil war. Early in the book there is a reference to “Emergency ‘58: the story of the Ceylon race riots”. I put down Brotherless Love and read that as background and am very glad I did. It provided a bit of background for to BL

“Neither is there any sense in trying to find a final answer to the question: who started it- was it the Sinhalese or the Tamils. The answer depends entirely on how far back in events you want to go - A never ending and unrewarding past time.”

Then I returned to BL, only to have to put it down to get to some of the Booker long list.

A powerful and well told and, I think, balanced story. 26 years of war and over a million killed.

Why wasn’t think Booker longlisted? It is head and shoulders better than some that were.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a rich and evocative portrayal of Sri Lanka at a time of immense difficulty. It looks at the nuances of different groupings and provides a deeply personal account in to one person’s grapple with their identity. I loved it!

A heartwarming story I will remember for years to come, the writing style is incredible and I can't wait to own my in person copy!

3.5

This was an intense and evocative look into the Sri Lankan civil war from the perspective of one woman, whose life and family were torn apart by it.

The narrative takes a journalistic approach to storytelling, to the point that I felt I was reading a factual eye-witness account of the horrors of the past. Despite the first-person POV, the narrative is pointedly lacking in human emotion and reaction. The recounting of events is direct, so no facts or details are hidden or sugarcoated to protect the reader. This makes for a heavy read as things go from bad to worse, with little reprieve. These aren’t criticisms — in fact, I felt it was a deliberate and powerful choice to convey the story in this way. The narrator experiences unspeakable losses within her own family and witnesses many more atrocities of war. The only way she can tell the truth — which is her aim from the beginning — is to remove much of the heightened emotion she must be feeling.

There is less dialogue than I would expect to find in a novel, but the nature of the plot allows for it. I’m not sure this narrative style is necessarily for me, but it’s refreshing to read something different. I learned a lot about Sri Lanka’s recent history and politics which I found really interesting. The novel spans about 30 years, but follows the narrator and the decisions made by those around her, rather than taking a wider lens to the world at the time. It was particularly poignant then when the author brings in the United Nations towards the end of the novel — after so much ‘avoidable’ conflict and death, the UN’s ambivalence towards civilians’ lives was the final nail in the coffin of what was a horrific and drawn-out war. I was shocked to discover the conflict was still going on in 2009. An informative read if your history education was as white-washed and colonised as mine.

If you enjoyed this, you may enjoy Moth by Melody Razak for similar tone of voice and the depiction of war through one family's experience.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free e-arc in exchange for an honest review

TW: war, death, murder, child death, rape, violence, sexual violence, fire, blood/gore, injury detail, kidnapping, torture, genocide, grief, suicide, animal death

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I have reviewed Brotherless Night for book recommendation site LoveReading.co.uk. I’ve chosen it as a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month. Please seee link to site for full review.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Brotherless Night
by V.V. Ganeshanathan

A brilliantly nuanced deep dive into the complexity of ethnic inequality in post colonial countries, this one set in Sri Lanka.

Written in first person narrative, this is the story of Sashi and her family living in Jaffna, in the predominantly Tamil north east. Due to continous discrimination, suppression and violence against the Tamils by the Sinhalese government, the Tamil Tigers form a guerrilla group tasked with militant attacks and assassinations in demand for Independence.

Swept up in idealistic fervour, Sashi's brothers and their family friend K enlist and soon Sashi herself becomes embroiled but from the inside, the organisation is as terrifying as it is from the outside.

This is a deeply personal perspective which explores every shade of grey in the grey area between oppressed and terrorist. Within Sashi's family alone there are parents, four brothers and herself and each one had a different reaction to the same experience of living under oppression based on their individual personalities and their peer groups. She brilliantly captures the gamut from mother focusing on family and daily routine, to father maintaining social standing, brothers burning with rebellious rage, blind devotion to a cause or anti rebellion escape plans.

Ganeshanathan does not rely on shock tactics to tell this deeply affecting story, nor does she use emotional manipulation, rather she writes in an almost journalistic style allowing the reader the courtesy to develop their own emotional response, which in my case is gratitude for the almost 20 years she spent researching and refining this study of how war is perceived depending on whose narrative is shared.

Ireland & UK Publication date: 29th June 2023
Thanks to #netgalley and #penguingeneraluk for the egalley

This beautifully written account of life in Jaffna, Sri Lanka during the civil war. The book explores how the concepts of terrorist, freedom fighter and loyal soldier really depend on what side you are on. It explores the difficulty of following your dreams in a war torn country. It is a detailed family saga that brings Jaffna to life. I found the book rich and rewarding.

The author has done it again.
A book of heroes. It describes the terrible tragedy of Sri Lanka in the 1970s and afterwards, and how a number of people fought for liberation.
It describes how not everything was correct but that actions were well meaning.
The characters were superb, the action realistic (if not true).
I loved the book from the beginning to the end.
Thank you to the author for a wonderful book, and thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy for honest review.

generous, moving and alive. A gift….

Intelligent, thought-provoking and always, always interesting…..

This author writes with warmth and engaging perception about our relationship and understanding…..

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshanathan is set in Sri Lanka in the 1980s. Whilst I knew of the civil war, I didn't really know any of the details.

The story is told by Sashi, who at 16 lives with her mum, dad, and 4 brothers in a village in Jaffna. She is a typical teenager studying for her exams in hopes of getting into medical school when she first witnesses signs of unrest.

The story is told in the first person by Sashi, which in my opinion, was an excllent decision by the author as, as far as it is possible, it felt like I was experiencing things along with her. I have connected with few characters the way that I did Sashi and I will miss her now the story is over.

This book is excellent and I would recommend it to anyone, although I must say it is not an easy read in parts but neither should it be. A book will never be able to capture the true horror and terror of war but I believe V V Ganeshanathan has done admirably.

Thank you to Netgalley and Viking UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

This sounds just right for me but I somehow can't get into it. I think the storytelling isn't focused enough. So much extraneous detail and so many characters. DNF

This was a hard book to read because it shows in great detail what human beings are capable of in the name of a cause. The narrator's brothers Seelan and Dayalan get swept away by the Tiger movement wanting to defend their fellow Tamils against persecution by the government but very quickly they lose all perspective and humanity. The movement demands absolute loyalty and even family ties are less important than the cause. Ordinary civilians are sacrificed by all three parties, the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan government and the Indian army and the country is torn to pieces. Through the protagonist Sashi's eyes the reader is confronted with the horrors and senselessness of any war. The novel is well written but you should read it only when you are ready to immerse yourself in the horrors of a civil war.

Brotherless Night is a brilliant, complex historical fiction from V. V. Ganeshananthan, she brings the first decade of the Sri Lankan Civil War to us through Sashi’s life as she comes of age in an incredibly fragmented world and follows her dream to study medicine.

We start and end in 2009 with Sashi in New York and travel back with her to spend the 1980’s with her.

Sashi’s family and world disintegrated around her and yet the power of human connection hanging by a thread survives all. The complexity and horror of living in Jaffna in the 1980’s shines through.

I can’t recommend this highly enough, the best book I have read in the last few years. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.


Note - there was something really wrong with the typesetting of the version I received every word with a double f was misprinted.

This novel is set during the backdrop of the Sri Lankan Civil War in Jaffna. The main characters are 16 year old Sashikala “Sashi” Kulenthiren and her family. The novel centres around Sashi as she tries to study to become a doctor whilst in living in war and her interactions with her family, especially her four brothers and her love interest who are caught up in this unrest and violent conflict and learning to survive the best way she can. You cannot but feel the pain through Sashi. I enjoyed this novel immensely. I would have been roughly the same age as Sashi was in the time this was set. Although I was aware of the Sri Lankan conflict, I did not know too much about it. This novel not only increased my knowledge but also made me quite emotional, but in the end this family was torn apart by their personal beliefs about the war and having no choice but to wage the war against the atrocities happening to the civilians. The only ones who suffer in this are the innocents who get caught up in the crossfire and so many people who were once friend are now divided. Without revealing too much it does not matter how much a good person you are sometimes you do things that you would not normally do in the name of war and your beliefs. The only one downside was some of the words in Tamil were not explained but otherwise I would thoroughly recommend this title. (