The Wounded Sea

by Satendra Nandan

Genres: Nonfiction

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is an excerpt from a longer review on my blog, Around the World in 2000 Books.

I liked this book at first. Nandan is a poet and his command of language is evident throughout. But it never really comes together; it reads more like a collection of expanded notes for a very thinly veiled memoir than an actual story. The first 130 pages are focused mainly on Nandan’s adolescence in Fiji; the last forty abruptly shift to the details of the first coup in 1987, when Nandan was a member of the newly elected cabinet and was imprisoned with the rest of the government for several days. The beginning is farcical in tone, excessively focused on scatological humor, with some obsessive observations about female breasts and buttocks (the author’s choice of words, not mine) for a change of pace. The timeline is confusing and occasional serious incidents--mostly the deaths of family members--are presented in isolation from the rest of the story, seemingly as mere devices to give the story some weight.

[Kate Throp · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 really. I did enjoy this but as another reviewer noted it was almost like notes or precis for a larger work. It is divided into four parts and in just 169 pages covers the authors life from the 1950s to the late 1980s including the coup in 1987. It is almost like watching a scratched DVD that jumps ahead now and again. It has some really lovely passages and you can feel the authors mixed emotions about the place, it's people, his place and his role there. Love, sadness, frustration, anger all bubble through. Just needed more.