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Ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Literary Fiction / Novel

Book Review:
Salt Rakers is a masterful novel from Lakmali Gunawardena, a writer whose work was recognized with a shortlisting in 2008 and the main award in 2019. This is a book that rewards careful reading and lingers in the mind long after the final page.

The novel is described as ''Stories that flow from the edges of other stories,'' and this captures its unique narrative structure. Gunawardena weaves together multiple threads, allowing them to meander through the social, cultural, and political landscapes of contemporary Sri Lanka. The stories feel simultaneously recognizable and distinct, stitching together fractured conversations and unravelling them to create patterns in a different weave.

What makes Salt Rakers so compelling is the author's ability to find the profound in the ordinary. Malinda Seneviratne's description is apt: the stories ''touch, they grip, they release us to the ever-present profound so well disguised in the simplicities of our lives.'' Gunawardena's prose is both lyrical and precise, capturing the textures of everyday life while never losing sight of the deeper currents beneath the surface.

This novel is a significant addition to Sri Lankan English literature. It is essential reading for those who appreciate literary fiction that is both deeply rooted in place and universal in its themes. A truly remarkable work.