Early Reviews and Comments. Here is how Prof. Chelva Kanaganayakam of the English Dept., University of Toronto, Canada, sees it:

“An extraordinary first novel by an accomplished poet, Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey offers a deeply insightful narrative of postcolonial Sri Lanka. Beneath the placid surface lies a tale of the challenges of modernity, the deep divisions of class and caste, and the traces of the past in shaping the present. With remarkable skill, the author moves back and forth in time, linking the present to the past, demonstrating the multiple ways in which Buddhism has shaped the contours of Sri Lankan culture. An inclusive text in the best sense of the term, the novel draws together multiple traditions to explore the pathos, paradoxes and richness of modern Sri Lanka. Suwanda Sugunasiri’s Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey is a major contribution to both Canadian and Sri Lankan literature (bold added).”

Prof. Frank Birbalsingh, English Dept.,York University (Toronto, Canada) says,

“ .. a deeply moving love story of a couple divided by caste and ethnicity, and a brilliant evocation of the ancient, mythic and religious past of a country in South Asia... The story comes alive within a wholly convincing fictional landscape that serves as the stage for a witty and informative dramatization of the country's modern, post-colonial struggle for freedom and independence (bold added) .” “What is genius?” asks Padma Edirisinghe, reviewing the novel in the Sunday Ob-server. Sri Lanka. “It can be defined in variegated ways, but the utmost genius in the field of writing could surface when an author manages to packet into 366 pages a 2500 saga of his country's history via a story, melodramatic yet extremely touching” (bold added).( <sundayobserver.lk> Montage> Book Corner, 06 26 2011.) An Award-winning Canadian writer commenting on an early draft notes,

“The novel is beautifully written and complex…. There are two protagonists in 	this novel, an ambitious task, and one you succeed admirably...

“The precocious Tangamma” is how Prof. Shelton Guneratne, Mass Media Professor Emeritus of Minnesota State University, USA, characterizes the female protagonist.

“Tangamma is the heroine, the true woman of Asia with a practical mind, 	adapt	able to 	any situation, to face any hardship, deprivation and also with the 	strength and 	the willpower, ”

agrees Daya Dissanayake in his review (see <ceylondailynews.lk>, 06 29, 2011).

Commenting on the male protagonist, Guneratne (above) notes,

“… based on my five years experience as a Canadian [Ceylon Daily News] jour-nalist in the ‘60s, I can attest that the characteristics attributed to Milton [the male protagonist] fit in to those of the typical journalist of the Lake House Eng-lish-language press of that era…” .

Himself having written a series for the Daily News around ‘Weligama Podda of yore hailing from the village of Pathegama’ (1965), he points to

“The novel’s remarkable ability to portray authentic village life in rural Sri Lanka in the mid-20th century … Sugunasiri’s portrayal of the rustic, bucolic life in the South is authentic as it could be.”

As for language usage, he notes,

“Rendering Lankan village ethos in British or North American English is not an easy task. Sugunasiri wisely uses Lankan English to achieve this authenticity.” (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2011/05/05/novelist-unfolds-link-of- ...)

In a personal note, the Award-winning author quoted above says,

“You have a natural writing voice, [with] the characters’ voices flowing over one 	another as effortless as water…. The language is lush and yet not self-conscious, 	evocative and 	… clear.”

Here are some other comments:

• “Pulsating vibrantly underneath…”, • “… deft execution of conflict, intensifying action, crisis and climax…”, • “…incredibly cinematic, camera panning from one image to another, then zoom-ing in..”

A Canadian reader, well versed in the Canadian literary scene, writes,

“…..I like the characters – they’re compelling and realistic. The story, too, is very 	engrossing.  Definitely intriguing and moving … a well-woven and well-told 	story….”

Well-written, authentic, complex, compelling, insightful, convincing, extraordinary…and a deeply moving love story! What more can be asked of a novel, even of a ‘genius” of a writer , producing his first novel at the prime age of 75?