408pp.
When I started reading Razeen Sally’s Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Island, I thought I would be reading a travelogue, but soon realised that it does not seem correct to call this book simply a travelogue.
It is certainly much more than that. It is an autobiography, a personal memoir, a socio-cultural history, a political critique and a nostalgic journey into past and present Sri Lanka. You can see the landscapes of the island, the flora and fauna, you learn about its history, you meet people of various ethnicities and religions, and you start understanding the current political issues that Sri Lanka faces. After reading the book, one feels almost as if one has lived on this paradisiacal island oneself for decades.