I cannot help but feel a sense of connection with this novel and its timing. I strongly feel that I had to read this novel before going to Sri Lanka.

This work is also a very important insight into the student conflict in Japan.

As a novel, it is very easy to read and I read through it in one sitting. He is indeed a leading Sri Lankan writer.

It was a great piece that gave me another new perspective on Sri Lanka.

I would highly recommend this work.

I was surprised that there was a Sri Lankan novel that had more influence than that "Oshin" novel.

The author, Saratchandra, actually visited Japan in 1955, and it is evident that the intense experience he had there has strongly influenced this book.

In particular, in the first part, "The Deceased," the narrative is primarily directed at Dewendra, a Sri Lankan painter. The story vividly depicts what Japan was like at that time as seen from his gentile perspective. As the above commentary has already given a glimpse of, Sri Lankans at that time imagined the country of Japan from reading this novel.

I picked up this book thinking that this work must be valuable in understanding how Sri Lankans viewed Japan at that time.

What came to me as I read this piece was, "Oh...! Literature! I thought to myself, "This is literature.

It's literature, THE literature.

I guess it depends on what one considers literature to be literature, but I felt it in this too sensitive and timid protagonist who did not fit in with the world.

Well - that's a bit of a bummer! Why don't you just take a step forward? I want to blast him, but that's a promise. The protagonist is stuck and continues to be troubled.

You are too sensitive and have values that are too far removed from the world, but you cannot abandon the world either. He understands this about himself, and yet, somewhere along the way, he still has a little bit of hope for the world. He is very sensitive. He is a very naïve protagonist.

His son Merlin strongly rebels against Sawiman, a big capitalist who has risen by exploiting the workers. He says, "Those two are already mentally corrupt. There is no one around who can make their parents' hearts repent after all this time! he confides to his best friend, doctor Alawinda. His rebellion is no longer a domestic issue, but develops into a political movement involving the citizens of Colombo.

The film also depicts these struggles and riots between capitalists and workers. This novel embodies the story of what was happening in Colombo at that time by Wickramasinghe, who used to be a journalist. As we have seen in his trilogy, Wickramasinghe's sensitive psychological portrayal is also evident in this work.

Wickramasinghe's novels are the best guide to the picture of Sri Lanka.