What Lies Between Us in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 10, 2016 Booktart rated it liked it

Shelves: sri-lanka

I had a tough time deciding on this rating -- the writing is good and I appreciated the way Munaweera weaves Sri Lankan history and culture, along with the experience of being a Sri Lankan American, into the story. However, I found the ending so unsettling that it would be difficult for me to recommend this book. I also overall did not find it as compelling as Munaweera's first book, which I loved. ...more

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Jan 28, 2016 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: unreliable-narrator, r2016-in-2016, wouldnt-normally-read, literary-schmiterary

She goes from crawling to walking on her wobbly legs. She watches everything we do with those startling eyes. She can speak only a few words, but she points with her tiny finger at every new thing that catches her eye - the flowers, the birds above, a tiny spot on the linoleum. She is like a spy in our world, watching and seeing everything. I feel as if she understands everything. But she gives no information about where she comes from, the secret place she has left. We teach her about our wo

She goes from crawling to walking on her wobbly legs. She watches everything we do with those startling eyes. She can speak only a few words, but she points with her tiny finger at every new thing that catches her eye - the flowers, the birds above, a tiny spot on the linoleum. She is like a spy in our world, watching and seeing everything. I feel as if she understands everything. But she gives no information about where she comes from, the secret place she has left. We teach her about our world, thinking it important, thinking ourselves important. But the mystery is, where did she come from? She can't tell us.

I don't even know how I feel.

I was excited to read this, it sounded interesting, and the cover is just gorgeous! The prologue about a trapped mother moon bear is powerful.

The story opens with a woman in prison, accused of an unnamed crime involving her daughter. Her tale is simple. It's the story of a girl growing up in Sri Lanka and moving to California. It's so simple, I started thinking, "is this just fancy chick lit? what is going on here?" And yet ... I could not forget that something awful must be coming.

In the last 50 pages I could not stop reading, I was spell-bound. But I was also disappointed. This book had a powerful start, and a powerful story, but a sort of ripped from the headlines ending.

The writing was exquisite. First of all, I didn't even notice that we didn't know our protagonist's name - that's good writing, because normally that sort of thing would leap out at me and bug me. Ms Munaweera is subtle and skilled. The passages describing falling in love, giving birth, and new motherhood were intense and perfect.

In these early days I wonder if it is possible to be heartbroken with happiness. Yes, a cliche, but in the cavity of my chest, in the embrace of my ribs, my heart unfurls. There had been a whorled shell around it, like a ripple-edged, tightly closed clam. My heart had been pearl in the center of it. He had slid a knifepoint into a crevice and prized with all his strength, and this covering had cracked open. The heart muscle, freed now, expands and fills as if with tide-pulled liquid. The sound of his voice, the silk of his skin - these are the sum of my treasure. I calibrate my days around his presence, I weave my life around him. This is what he does for me: he breaks my heart with happiness.

But some things didn't work for me. I never really felt her time in Sri Lanka, which was disappointing. I was looking forward to "feeling" a new culture and way of speaking and looking. But this could have just as easily been any small family in any large house in any warm climate, maybe Georgia. I did not feel the sense of place that I was expecting. Munaweera is excellent at describing the inner life but she lost me a bit when describing the outer life. ...more

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