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Aversion
This story is a fusion of satire, magical realism, humour, and horror.
This is contemporary Sri Lanka, seen through a specific lens, somewhere in a place located in Samsara, not forty leagues from Paradise as the Tourist Board would have us believe, but much nearer the Other Place. Those grizzled old cartographers made an error when they were detailing its site. But we live here, so we know it from the inside.
We prefer to live on its surface, and avert our gaze from what troubles us, but its tendency to chaos is also inside us. It shows in the high murder rates, the abuse of children, the degradation of women. In the way conformity is endorsed and anything which challenges the ‘norm’ is vilified, from gender diversity to neurodivergence. They call it Paradise, but it is still a work in progress. As are all of us, who live in it.
This is contemporary Sri Lanka, seen through a specific lens, somewhere in a place located in Samsara, not forty leagues from Paradise as the Tourist Board would have us believe, but much nearer the Other Place. Those grizzled old cartographers made an error when they were detailing its site. But we live here, so we know it from the inside.
We prefer to live on its surface, and avert our gaze from what troubles us, but its tendency to chaos is also inside us. It shows in the high murder rates, the abuse of children, the degradation of women. In the way conformity is endorsed and anything which challenges the ‘norm’ is vilified, from gender diversity to neurodivergence. They call it Paradise, but it is still a work in progress. As are all of us, who live in it.
384 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 11, 2026
A brilliant portrayal of Sri Lankan society and its intricacies. The novel is an exploration of modern society and human nature as much as it is an artwork of emotion. It’s moving, thought-provoking and so incredibly eye-opening. If there’s anything you read this year, let this be it!
January 13, 2026
A great novel! Aversion seeks to reveal the truth about our society by dismantling the comforting myth of “paradise.” Through stark observations of violence and child abuse, the author exposes the hidden realities that many prefer to ignore.
January 20, 2026
A gritty, thought-provoking page-turner which adeptly and unshrinkingly challenges the modern-day mythology of social constructs and political artifice.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews