Amma is not a book written just about his mother. Among the story is the story of the author who moved to Colombo and from a rural village in Haputhale. The book is written in a different format. Such books are limited in modern Sinhala literature. I recommend reading this book to young people as a motivational story. The book is more than four hundred pages long, but reading it was very interesting.
Some chapters were very well written, and full of intense emotional moments. However, the fact that this book is introduced as a recollection of the memories of the author about his mother is a bit misleading, because this is more or less an autobiography with his mother being a prominent character.
Unquestionably a good story. The one thing that bugged me was the fact that this is more the story of Sannasgala himself (his childhood, at least), rather than his mother's. Might have created a better image had it been written in someone else's point of view.
Even though writer presents it as a tribute to his late mother, this book is more like a biography of the writer - his journey to the city. The story is dark and intense. It is a mixture love, affection, courage and also a bit of politics.
A great sinhala novel I read after a long time. One has to be a great writer to forget about his ego and share his true story like this with public. Future generation would be grateful for Sannasgala for doing so.