Island of a Thousand Mirrors (Munaweera) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
The uneasy relationship between "liberation movements" and those they seek to liberate is convincingly captured, as are the constant negotiations civilians have to make to survive in a war zone…. The beating heart of Island of a Thousand Mirrors is not so much its human characters but Sri Lanka itself and the vivid, occasionally incandescent, language used to describe this teardrop in the Indian Ocean.
Nadifa Mohamed - New York Times Book Review


The paradisiacal landscapes of Sri Lanka are as astonishing as the barbarity of its revolution, and Munaweera evokes the power of both in a lyrical debut novel.... The book leaves the reader with two lingering smells that perfectly capture the conflict that nearly destroyed Munaweera’s home country: gasoline and jasmine.
Publishers Weekly


Munaweera's storytelling and lyrical writing easily pull readers into the world of her characters (all strongly drawn, especially the females), and the book as a whole is an eye-opening look at lives and cultures intersecting during a turbulent and disturbing historical period of civil unrest. —Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
Library Journal


The Sri Lankan civil war's traumatic effect on the island nation's people—and one family in particular—is the subject of this verdantly atmospheric first novel.... Munaweera's depiction of war-torn Sri Lanka, though harrowing, seems rushed and journalistic, more reported than experienced.
Kirkus Reviews