The name Sri Lanka conjures two images. One is of an island of incredible beauty, a tropical paradise of golden beaches, mist-shrouded mountains carpeted with tea fields, and 2000-year-old cities and archaeological monuments, a land of apparent peace and tranquility. The other is of a brutal thirty-year civil war, an island riven with death, destruction, and racial divides.
Here is a story that belongs to neither of those images, a story of a boy growing up in Sri Lanka in the midst of all that beauty and in the run-up to those bitter times. It paints a picture at once familiar and unexpected, with storytelling that is revealing, deeply personal, funny, and sometimes emotional.
This story was written as a gift from a father who grew up in Sri Lanka to a son who grew up in Canada. In a time where young minds are often spent immersed in virtual worlds and long conversations between parents and children are a thing of the past, how does history get passed on from generation to generation? Here is one father’s attempt to deal with this challenge and record his family history for his son and posterity before it is lost to the shifting sands of time.
For Sri Lankan readers, it is a tale that will bring back memories and nostalgia. For non–Sri Lankans, it is a tale that you will not expect, that will surprise and charm you.
eBooks
Reviews
"To read Sunil Tantirige’s The House of a Thousand Memories is to immerse oneself, as only a well-told story allows, in all the vicissitudes of middle-class life as it was lived in Ceylon in the 1960s and later. With insight, humor and an eye for the telling detail, he portrays the life and times of a child from a Sinhalese family, living in a suburb of Colombo, exposed to Western culture and embracing wholeheartedly, the demand that children 'study hard and do well in school.' .... Woven deftly into descriptions of times and events are perceptive glimpses into the values that were the foundations of life during that time, and for those of us interested in cultural history, the book has a significance that transcends a particular time and place. "
—Yazmin Azad, author of Stay, Daughter: A Memoir of Muslim Girlhood (2019)
"Written in simple language, evoking emotion in each page, this novel is a testament to the love the author has for his homeland and his family ... The warmth is a constant presence throughout the book, transporting the reader into a wave of islandic-nostalgia. To a younger audience, the story offers insight into what childhood looked like in the sixties. To others, this piece of literary work does an amazing job at moving them back to their early days ... Reading The House of a Thousand Memories felt like an idyllic vacation. Love, nostalgia and memories weave in and out of each chapter and are contagious. This is what will keep you turning page after page until you reach the last one and then suddenly you are left wishing there was more."
—Anuki Seneviratne, Review in Pulse.lk
“The reader would find him honest as he did not borrow and add to the pages, fancy and colorful plumes to decorate his life with escapades…. He never coveted such to his credit to make himself a cardboard hero. The book is simply the truth and nothing but the truth and there lies in totality the beauty of The House of a Thousand Memories.”
— Capt. Elmo Jayawardhene, author of Sam's Story, The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay, and Kekiyan.
"Sunil Tantirige, a man who today is as cosmopolitan as you are likely to find, has written this strong and touching account of his exotic youth. Read The House of a Thousand Memories. You won’t regret doing so."
— Keith Weaver, author of Rolls and Sicilian Refuge
"The author paints a fascinating picture of growing up in the sixties and seventies in suburban Colombo - a carefree age with simple values that many readers will recall nostalgically. His masterful setting up of this world is to be highly commended since this is his first book. Given his many and diverse experiences of life on two continents, it is sincerely hoped that we will be treated to more of his stories."
— Professor Priyan Dias, PhD, Senior Professor in Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and a friend of the author from their university days.
"[Sunil Tantirige] has an extraordinary ability to create vivid mental pictures of events from the past, which in turn generated beautiful thoughts in my mind. I felt as if I was being pushed to read this book all in one breath even without me realizing it."
— Preethi Jayasuriya, retired engineer and motivational speaker, Colombo, Sri Lanka
"[Sunil Tantirige's] writing presents this era with a sweet nostalgic and gentle tone covering the people and places described within the book (the subjects of his carefully selected memories) with a protective aura, preserving this charming atmosphere to the next generation as the most precious present worth passing down — the positive moments, the memories of a past time well lived."
— writer Gabriella Fabik
"The House of a Thousand Memories is a must-read for all Sri Lankans. The author took me down memory lane and it got me all nostalgic. This 150-page novel is filled with great stories. Kept me glued to the book until I finished reading it. Congratulations Sunil Tantirige, it is an excellent read."
— Dirk Tissera, Editor-in-chief, Sri Lankan Anchorman
“The ending brings the ‘not so’ prodigal son back to where he once belonged.…The imaginary conversations between the author and his beloved home are created and expressed to lay the final varnish to the story. Guess that makes it all worthwhile, memories, a thousand of them.”
— Capt. Elmo Jayawardhene, author of Sam's Story, The Last Kingdom of Sinhalay, and Kekiyan.
"I am truly in awe that individuals so different in cultural backgrounds, history, religion and all the things that set people apart could have such similar life stories. Perhaps we are not so different after all. It really is a pleasure to read your book Sunil and you have inspired me to put pen to paper to tell my story for future generations and especially my children. I had not understood how important that was until now."
— Malcolm Rawlingson, Engineer, Toronto
“The privilege of having such a childhood, and the realization of (the) value of it is incredible.”
— SeekingPlaces, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Author(s)
Sunil Tantirige
Sunil Tantirige was born and raised in Sri Lanka.