Vanni: A graphic history
The present world in which I am writing this review is vastly different to the one in which I began reading Vanni: A Family's Struggle Through the Sri Lankan Conflict – a graphic novel focused on the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war and its devastating human cost.
I first opened this book many moons ago on a packed train to work in Colombo from the outskirts of the city. Within days, the government declared an all-island curfew. Fear of death gripped me as the number of local cases of COVID-19 mounted. I abandoned my sister, who is a doctor, and sought the relative safety of my aunt's house to reduce my probability of contracting the virus. In my paranoia, I even contemplated stocking up on oxygen cylinders in the event that I became severely ill. I did not get around to writing the review for three months because (I felt) I was not in the right mental space to undertake the task.