My Only Love Sprung From My Only Hate

Author: P. B. Jayasekara
Publisher: Godage 2023

P. B. Jayasekera has written some excellent novels in Sinhala.  His "ඉක්බිතිව ඔහු මරා පීහ" is one of the best novels written in the last decade.  This is his first attempt to write a novel in English. 

The story evolves in a small village in upcountry.  The time period coincides with the same time period of the "ඉක්බිතිව ඔහු මරා පීහ" novel.  The dynamics between the Sinhalese villagers and Tamil estate workers fluctuates with time.  Villagers who usually live peacefully reacts differently to the rumors that spread in the country.  Some villagers try to help estate workers from their fellow villagers who believe in those rumors and react to them violently.  However, I felt that that part of the story has been written previously in many modes by many authors and there was no novelty in this beaten up thread.  Unfortunately, Western liberal organizations still offer rewords such as the Booker Prize for this type of stories.

P. B. has captured the village life of the time masterfully.  It would have been nice if he had not delved too much into the “ethnic issue”. The story would have been more coherent and enjoyable without that distraction.