Island of a Thousand Mirrors
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Narrated by:
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Priya Ayyar
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By:
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Nayomi Munaweera
About this listen
A stunning literary debut of two young women on opposing sides of the devastating Sri Lankan Civil War.
Before violence tore apart the tapestry of Sri Lanka and turned its pristine beaches red, there were two families. Yasodhara tells the story of her own Sinhala family, rich in love, with everything they could ask for. As a child in idyllic Colombo, social hierarchies, their parents’ ambitions, and teenage love shape Yasodhara and her siblings’ lives, and, subtly, the differences between Tamil and Sinhala people; but the peace is shattered by the tragedies of war. Yasodhara's family escapes to Los Angeles. But Yasodhara's life has already become intertwined with a young Tamil girl's.
Saraswathi is living in the active war zone of Sri Lanka and hopes to become a teacher. But her dreams for the future are abruptly stamped out when she is arrested by a group of Sinhala soldiers and pulled into the very heart of the conflict that she has tried so hard to avoid - a conflict that, eventually, will connect her and Yasodhara in unexpected ways.
In the tradition of Michael Ondatje's Anil's Ghost and Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, Island of a Thousand Mirrors is an emotionally resonant saga of cultural heritage, heartbreaking conflict, and deep family bonds. Narrated in two unforgettably authentic voices and spanning the entirety of the decades-long civil war, it offers an unparalleled portrait of a beautiful land during its most difficult moment by a spellbinding new literary talent who promises tremendous things to come.
©2014 Nayomi Munaweera (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse - a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers.
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Excellent Prose, but lacks maturity
- By Michael on 08-09-15
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Leopard at the Door
- By: Jennifer McVeigh
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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After six years in England, Rachel has returned to Kenya and the farm where she spent her childhood, but the beloved home she'd longed for is much changed. Her father's new companion - a strange, intolerant woman - has taken over the household. The political climate in the country grows more unsettled by the day and is approaching the boiling point. And looming over them all is the threat of the Mau Mau, a secret society intent on uniting the native Kenyans and overthrowing the whites.
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IMPERIALISM
- By Haberwoman on 08-02-18
By: Jennifer McVeigh
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The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
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Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
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White Dog Fell from the Sky
- By: Eleanor Morse
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Botswana, 1976: Isaac Muthethe thinks he is dead. Smuggled across the border from South Africa in a hearse, he awakens covered in dust, staring at blue sky and the face of White Dog. Far from dead, he is, for the first time, in a country without apartheid. A medical student in South Africa, he was forced to flee after witnessing a friend murdered by white members of the South African Defense Force.
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Unexpectedly Stunning Work!
- By Kathi on 03-15-13
By: Eleanor Morse
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Her Body and Other Parties
- Stories
- By: Carmen Maria Machado
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
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Beautiful
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
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All the Lives We Never Lived
- By: Anuradha Roy
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Man Booker Prize-nominated author of Sleeping on Jupiter, The Folded Earth, and An Atlas of Impossible Longing, a poignant and sweeping novel set in India during World War II and the present day about a son’s quest to uncover the truth about his mother....
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Beautiful book
- By Sonia S. on 12-13-19
By: Anuradha Roy
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Praise Song for the Butterflies
- A Novel
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Abeo Kata lives a comfortable, happy life in West Africa as the privileged nine-year-old daughter of a government employee and stay-at-home mother. But when the Katas' idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse, Abeo's father, following his mother's advice, places the girl in a religious shrine, hoping that the sacrifice of his daughter will serve as atonement for the crimes of his ancestors. Unspeakable acts befall Abeo for the 15 years she is held in the shrine. When she is finally rescued, broken and battered, she must struggle to overcome her past.
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Searing!
- By Susie Bright on 09-05-18
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A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
- By: Ellen Oh, Elsie Chapman
- Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest, Vikas Adam
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings: these are the stuff of fairy tale, myth, and folklore that have drawn us in for centuries. Fifteen best-selling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate. From fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge, these stories will beguile listeners from start to finish.
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great stories, terrible narrators
- By Amazon Customer on 05-11-19
By: Ellen Oh, and others
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The White Woman on the Green Bicycle
- By: Monique Roffey
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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A beautifully written, unforgettable novel of a troubled marriage, set against the lush landscape and political turmoil of Trinidad. Monique Roffey's Orange Prize-shortlisted novel is a gripping portrait of post-colonialism that stands among great works by Caribbean writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Andrea Levy. When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England, George is immediately seduced by the beguiling island, while Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill-at-ease.
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Disappointing.
- By Crystal on 10-31-12
By: Monique Roffey
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Arcadia
- By: Lauren Groff
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Lauren Groff’s acclaimed debut novel The Monsters of Templeton was short-listed for the Orange Prize. Her second novel, Arcadia opens in the late 1960s with a group of young idealists forming a commune in western New York State. Into this group is born Bit, who grows into a quiet, distant man. Over the course of 50 years, Bit witnesses the utopia crumble and the world change in unimaginable ways.
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Luscious prose, intimate and realistic
- By Kathleen on 03-22-12
By: Lauren Groff
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The Incarnations
- A Novel
- By: Susan Barker
- Narrated by: Timo Chen, Joy Osmanski
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Who are you? You must be wondering. I am your soul mate, your old friend, and I have come back to this city of 16 million in search of you. So begins the first letter that falls into Wang's lap as he flips down the visor in his taxi. The letters that follow are filled with the stories of Wang's previous lives - from escaping a marriage to a spirit bride to being a slave on the run from Genghis Khan to living as a fisherman during the Opium Wars and being a teenager on the Red Guard during the cultural revolution.
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What was that you said?
- By cecil reniche-smith on 08-29-15
By: Susan Barker
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The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
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My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
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What listeners say about Island of a Thousand Mirrors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kindle Customer
- 07-24-16
Powerful, heartbreaking story. Beautifully written
Any additional comments?
This is not an easy book to read. The story vividly describes horrific tragedies of the Sri Lankan civil war where hatred for the other came with birth. It is a dance of light and dark, love and hate, joy and despair, beauty and the beast.
The author never flinches, taking us deep into the darkest wells of human nature without ever losing the connecting power of love and family and home. Richly detailed from both sides of the conflict, there is no hero other than the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of love, no villain other than the mindset of “us and them” and the willingness to think violence is a solution.
This must have been a gut-wrenching book to write. It is definitely a book that will stay with me for a long time as I wonder, “Could it happen here?” I highly recommend the audible version brilliantly read by Priya Ayyar.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Rohini Anand
- 09-06-24
Great story beautifully written
Loved both the story and the performance . Especially loved the beautiful writing that made the island and the characters come to life. There were a few characters I wished had been developed more especially Maya who seemed to have dropped off the story and then returned. Overall exceptional first novel!
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- Anonymous User
- 12-27-23
“cowboys and indians” no more
rich storytelling: a personalizing account of inescapably tied families/people before and during the sri lankan civil war. munaweera effectively blurs the “two sides” narrative of conflict - that one is right and the other is wrong - while not shying away from descriptions of love, beauty, pain and loss experienced by many sri lankans and us-bound immigrants.
ayyar’s reading highlights the unique voices munaweera creates through masterful use of cadence and inflections; one feels caught in the refractions of this island of a thousand mirrors through their voice.
ps - i can’t help but use this story as a lens through which to view other ethnic conflicts
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- SeeWhy
- 06-06-24
Beautiful and devastating tales of Sri Lanka
The first chapter is a lyrical and condensed introduction to the history of this island state. I read this in preparation for my upcoming trip to the country. It is an epic and poetic personal tale of childhood memories in lush tropical gardens, unrequited teenage love, loss from war / terrorism, exile and homecoming. The rich descriptions of the verdant landscapes have me eagerly anticipating my first visit.
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- Saman
- 05-16-16
Brilliant first novel ...
This was my first listen from a native Sri Lankan authoress. As the book won a prestigious award for a debut novel, I was intrigued by its author and her background from Sri Lanka to Nigeria and then onwards to the USA. As a Sri Lankan living in the USA myself, I really wanted to get into the subject matter covered in the book. From a video I learned that the book took 5 years to complete.
The book is astonishingly good. It intricately weaves the lives of the protagonists through their idyllic upbringing around tropical beach settings contrasted with the tumultuous war stricken northern waste lands and horrendous outcomes. There is so much in this book to devour and it challenged by own views of the Sri Lankan conflict. Throughout the book, we see the face of racism and also heroic compassion at the worst of times. The ending itself is gut wrenching and yet hopes for a brighter future.
If there is a negative, western audiences may be lost on some of the nuances of Sri Lankan culture, its typical idiosyncrasies and humor, as well as some language terms. But that should not deter anyone from enjoying this masterful novel.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Mahidevran
- 04-07-18
Pronunciation
I wish this was read by a Sri Lankan. I understand that our names are difficult to pronounce, but names places are not so hard. Pronouncing the names of people and places properly will add quality to the book
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3 people found this helpful
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- Bailey Lammon
- 04-21-24
Fantastic
Everything you want in a book. It’s warm and intimate yet heart wrenching and real. Come for the cultural insight, stay for the unfolding of a fantastic story
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