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Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka
No one sees the world quite like John Gimlette. As The New York Times once noted, “he writes with enormous wit, indignation, and a heightened sense of the absurd.” Writing for both the adventurer and the armchair traveler, he has an eye for unusually telling detail, a sense of wonder, and compelling curiosity for the inside story. This time, he travels to Sri Lanka, a country only now emerging from twenty-six years of civil war. Delving deep into the nation’s story, Gimlette provides us with an astonishing, multifaceted portrait of the island today. His travels reveal the country as never before. Beginning in the exuberant capital, Colombo (“a hint of anarchy everywhere”), he ventures out in all to the dry zones where the island’s 5,800 wild elephants congregate around ancient reservoirs; through cinnamon country with its Portuguese forts; to the “Bible Belt” of Buddhism—the tsunami-ravaged southeast coast; then up into the great green highlands (“the garden in the sky”) and Kandy, the country’s eccentric, aristocratic Shangri-la. Along the way, a wild and often desperate history takes shape, a tale of great colonies (Arab, Portuguese, British, and Dutch) and of the cultural divisions that still divide this society. Before long, we’re in Jaffna and the Vanni, crucibles of the recent conflict. These areas—the hottest, driest, and least hospitable—have been utterly devastated by war and are only now struggling to their feet.But this is also a story of friendship and remarkable encounters. In the course of his journey, Gimlette meets farmers, war heroes, ancient tribesmen, world-class cricketers, terrorists, a former president, old planters, survivors of great massacres—and perhaps some of their perpetrators. That’s to say nothing of the island’s beguiling elephants, crocodiles, snakes, storks, and the greatest concentration of leopards on Earth. Here is a land of extravagant beauty and profound devastation, of ingenuity and catastrophe, possessed of both a volatile past and an uncertain future—a place capable of being at once heavenly and hellish—all brought to vibrant, fascinating life here on the page.
378 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
172 people are currently reading
1539 people want to read
About the author
John Gimlette
7 books36 followersJohn Gimlette was born in 1963. At seventeen, he crossed the Soviet Union by train and has since travelled to over 60 countries. In 1982, on the eve of the Falklands War, he was working on an estancia in Argentina. He returned to England via Paraguay and Bolivia to read law at Cambridge.
In 1997, he won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize with ‘Pink Pigs in Paraguay’, which was published in The Spectator in May of that year. The following year he won the Wanderlust Travel Writing competition.
He is a regular contributor to a number of British broadsheets, including The Daily Telegraph, Times and The Guardian travel sections. He also contributes to other travel titles, including the Conde Nast Traveller and Wanderlust. His travel photographs have appeared in the Telegraph, Wanderlust and Geographical.
His first book was At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, which is described as a 'vivid, riotous journey into the heart of South America' (see the Reviews page). His second book, Theatre of Fish, set in Newfoundland and Labrador, was published in 2005.
Both books were nominated by The New York Times as being among the ‘100 Notable Books of the Year’.
John Gimlette’s third book was Panther Soup, which followed a wartime journey through France, Germany and Austria, comparing the battlefields of 1944-45 with what can be found there today.
He lives in London where he practices as a barrister. He is married to TV presenter, Jayne Constantinis, and they have one daughter.
In 1997, he won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize with ‘Pink Pigs in Paraguay’, which was published in The Spectator in May of that year. The following year he won the Wanderlust Travel Writing competition.
He is a regular contributor to a number of British broadsheets, including The Daily Telegraph, Times and The Guardian travel sections. He also contributes to other travel titles, including the Conde Nast Traveller and Wanderlust. His travel photographs have appeared in the Telegraph, Wanderlust and Geographical.
His first book was At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, which is described as a 'vivid, riotous journey into the heart of South America' (see the Reviews page). His second book, Theatre of Fish, set in Newfoundland and Labrador, was published in 2005.
Both books were nominated by The New York Times as being among the ‘100 Notable Books of the Year’.
John Gimlette’s third book was Panther Soup, which followed a wartime journey through France, Germany and Austria, comparing the battlefields of 1944-45 with what can be found there today.
He lives in London where he practices as a barrister. He is married to TV presenter, Jayne Constantinis, and they have one daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
June 10, 2019
This is a good book. I hadn’t read Gimlette before and was afraid Elephant Complex was going to be in the white-guy-explains-Asia-with-a-smirk genre, but the voice is steady, and whilst Gimlette has an eye for the odd luminous detail he doesn’t try too hard to be funny. He’s all over the island, in Colombo and the Cultural Triangle and the other usual tourist spots and also in many places central, north, south, east, and west well off that grid. The writing is clean and straightforward and the observations and interviews are grounded in a wide range of historical reading which makes the book both compelling travel writing and a useful anecdotal history of Sri Lanka, particularly of the colonial periods and the historical backgrounds to and grim realities of the civil war and its aftermath. An annotated ‘Further Reading’ section runs to nine pages, and the index I didn’t expect to find in a book of travel writing is helpful in retracing one’s steps, and Gimlette’s, through the nearly 400 pages of text.
December 13, 2015
Great. I read it twice. I am now a SriLanka bore.
May 14, 2016
An extraordinary book, by far the best I've ever read about this beautiful, magical, tropical paradise with its tragic, even sordid underbelly. I'm not a special fan of the travelogue, but Gimlette manages to capture Sri Lanka--its history, culture and peoples--in a way that constantly had me saying, "Yes, that's exactly the way I remember it!" or "I missed that. I must go back." Or in the case of Negombo, "I never caught a glimpse of the perversion. I can't believe a reputable tour company booked us there." In fact, after that early chapter, I had to lay the book aside for awhile, before I could continue.
While Tamil ex-pats and sympathizers will disagree with me, I found Gimlette's description of the long civil war the fairest and most objective I've read. Both sides committed atrocities; both sides were dishonest with the public and with their own people. I first went to Sri Lanka, near Hikkaduwa and Galle in the southwest, as part of a volunteer group a year after the tsunami. To prepare for that trip, I read all I could find on the country and subscribed to daily Google news alerts. While I was there, the civil war broke out again. Meeting, living and working among those beautiful, graceful, gracious, serene people, I fell in love. When I left, I left part of my heart.
So I returned three years ago to bring closure. I rejoiced to see the economic progress, to see the country at peace, to be able to travel safely into the historic center. Now, after reading Gimlette, I want to return a third time. I recommend the book to everyone who might consider a trip to this beautiful island, and I want to read more by Gimlette. His descriptive language, the depth of his research and his eye for detail are extraordinary.
While Tamil ex-pats and sympathizers will disagree with me, I found Gimlette's description of the long civil war the fairest and most objective I've read. Both sides committed atrocities; both sides were dishonest with the public and with their own people. I first went to Sri Lanka, near Hikkaduwa and Galle in the southwest, as part of a volunteer group a year after the tsunami. To prepare for that trip, I read all I could find on the country and subscribed to daily Google news alerts. While I was there, the civil war broke out again. Meeting, living and working among those beautiful, graceful, gracious, serene people, I fell in love. When I left, I left part of my heart.
So I returned three years ago to bring closure. I rejoiced to see the economic progress, to see the country at peace, to be able to travel safely into the historic center. Now, after reading Gimlette, I want to return a third time. I recommend the book to everyone who might consider a trip to this beautiful island, and I want to read more by Gimlette. His descriptive language, the depth of his research and his eye for detail are extraordinary.
February 8, 2022
Sri Lanka is a pearl-shaped island just off the southern Indian coast. Traces of human life have been found going back thousands of years, and it abounds with legends from its past. The island is rich in wildlife and forest too and even has its own subspecies of the Asian elephant. They were part of the commonwealth until 1948 when they declared independence and they have had a troubled history since that point with pretty much civil war between the Sinhalese and Tamil populations.
Close to where Gimlette lives in London is a community of Tamil’s. It is thought that there are around 8000 of them, but nobody knows for certain, This is a small proportion of the number in the UK and they are a people that are fairly self-contained. Their temple looks like an art deco department store, but inside it was like stepping into Sri Lankan. He knew then it was a place that he would have to see for himself.
On arrival in Columbo, he stopped to as a man the direction to go, who by chance happened to be heading in that direction. They were soon in a three-wheeler in the chaotic traffic heading towards the temple, Gangarama. It was slowly dawning on him that something was going on and he asked to go back. They took him and asked for a huge fee for his experience, which after a few minutes of sitting around was negotiated down substantially. The first few weeks in the city, he walked everywhere though navigating was challenging as their beautiful script was incomprehensible to him. After a few weeks, it was time to leave the city and head out into the countryside.
At that point, the fireflies appeared, filling the treehouse with their twinkly light. It was like being in the cockpit of a tiny thatched jet.
Being driven was an experience, they have a very different set of safety parameters and the rules of the road are more fiction than law. The road took them to the coast, where the sea glinted its amethyst colour in the sun. Inland the landscape became harsher and drier and he saw his first signs warning about elephants. They stop and climb a small hill and there in front of them were hundreds of silvery wewas. These water channels are not natural, they are a massive civil engineering feat to bring water across the island to irrigate the land.
In places, everything had been scorched away, and pools of crimson had formed in the hollows. The thorn tresses looked as if they’d been added later in ink, they were so spare and black.
His travels take him all over the island and to some of the little islands off the coast and in each place he finds out more and more about the people and the conflict that caused so much anguish. He learns how they live with some of the horrific things that the various sides inflicted on each other and sifts through their complex and long history, finding out how they have lived under various European authorities.
Gimlette has a sharp eye for detail and a way of travelling that does not presume anything. Rather he finds interesting places to go and he waits for things to happen and then tells us about them and the people that he meets there. I am a big fan of the other books that Gimlette has written, in particular, his award-winning Wild Coast and the most recently published, The Gardens Of Mars. However, I didn’t quite connect with this one as much as those other two. I think that it was because there was a lot about the civil war in the book and it felt more like a history book rather than a travel book. I thought that it was still worth reading, though as he has a wonderful way with words. There are a few pictures from his trip in the book, but there are more here.
Close to where Gimlette lives in London is a community of Tamil’s. It is thought that there are around 8000 of them, but nobody knows for certain, This is a small proportion of the number in the UK and they are a people that are fairly self-contained. Their temple looks like an art deco department store, but inside it was like stepping into Sri Lankan. He knew then it was a place that he would have to see for himself.
On arrival in Columbo, he stopped to as a man the direction to go, who by chance happened to be heading in that direction. They were soon in a three-wheeler in the chaotic traffic heading towards the temple, Gangarama. It was slowly dawning on him that something was going on and he asked to go back. They took him and asked for a huge fee for his experience, which after a few minutes of sitting around was negotiated down substantially. The first few weeks in the city, he walked everywhere though navigating was challenging as their beautiful script was incomprehensible to him. After a few weeks, it was time to leave the city and head out into the countryside.
At that point, the fireflies appeared, filling the treehouse with their twinkly light. It was like being in the cockpit of a tiny thatched jet.
Being driven was an experience, they have a very different set of safety parameters and the rules of the road are more fiction than law. The road took them to the coast, where the sea glinted its amethyst colour in the sun. Inland the landscape became harsher and drier and he saw his first signs warning about elephants. They stop and climb a small hill and there in front of them were hundreds of silvery wewas. These water channels are not natural, they are a massive civil engineering feat to bring water across the island to irrigate the land.
In places, everything had been scorched away, and pools of crimson had formed in the hollows. The thorn tresses looked as if they’d been added later in ink, they were so spare and black.
His travels take him all over the island and to some of the little islands off the coast and in each place he finds out more and more about the people and the conflict that caused so much anguish. He learns how they live with some of the horrific things that the various sides inflicted on each other and sifts through their complex and long history, finding out how they have lived under various European authorities.
Gimlette has a sharp eye for detail and a way of travelling that does not presume anything. Rather he finds interesting places to go and he waits for things to happen and then tells us about them and the people that he meets there. I am a big fan of the other books that Gimlette has written, in particular, his award-winning Wild Coast and the most recently published, The Gardens Of Mars. However, I didn’t quite connect with this one as much as those other two. I think that it was because there was a lot about the civil war in the book and it felt more like a history book rather than a travel book. I thought that it was still worth reading, though as he has a wonderful way with words. There are a few pictures from his trip in the book, but there are more here.
October 16, 2017
Elephant Complex is the best contemporary account of Sri Lanka. There, that's short and to the point. If you have an interest in the country - and I have, since my father is Sri Lankan - then this book is required reading. It also has a secondary function, that I will concentrate on here, in detailing the sort of preparation, work and temperament that is required to make an exceptional travel writer, and John Gimlette is an exceptional travel writer. What makes him even better in this capacity is that his full-time, day job is that of London solicitor, but every so often he takes off for some far-flung part of the world and brings it back with him in exquisite prose. He even looks like a solicitor! He is the Wallace Stevens of travel writing.
As to the elements of being a travel writer, first there is the preparation. So far as I can tell, Gimlette has read everything that there is to read, at least in English, about Sri Lanka, from Robert Knox's account of his 20-year captivity in the 17th century, through the accounts of Victorians such as James Emerson Tennent, through to the many competing and conflicting accounts of the long war between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. He says in his prologue that he spent two years researching Sri Lanka before visiting the country, and it shows in his writing. But his research was not confined to reading: he made contacts with many of the most significant players in contemporary Sri Lanka, interviewing them either before he went or during his three months in the country. For that is the next remarkable aspect of the book. Gimlette only spent three months there. That might sound like a long time, but having spent six weeks there myself recently, I can only marvel at how much more Gimlette managed to pack in to his schedule. Now that was no doubt helped by travelling there on his own, but what is even clearer is that, to be as accomplished a travel writer as Gimlette, the first requirement is an inexhaustible curiosity coupled with the desire to always open oneself to the country and the people among which you are travelling. Personally, I can manage that for a while, but then I become overloaded and have to withdraw behind the barricades of privilege that being a (comparatively) wealthy in a poor country allows. I simply don't have the stamina for human interaction that Gimlette has.
So, while the idea of being paid to write about what I did on my holidays might initially appeal, during my own trip to Sri Lanka I realised that I did not have the combination of qualities required of a great travel writer. Gimlette has. Read his book.
As to the elements of being a travel writer, first there is the preparation. So far as I can tell, Gimlette has read everything that there is to read, at least in English, about Sri Lanka, from Robert Knox's account of his 20-year captivity in the 17th century, through the accounts of Victorians such as James Emerson Tennent, through to the many competing and conflicting accounts of the long war between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. He says in his prologue that he spent two years researching Sri Lanka before visiting the country, and it shows in his writing. But his research was not confined to reading: he made contacts with many of the most significant players in contemporary Sri Lanka, interviewing them either before he went or during his three months in the country. For that is the next remarkable aspect of the book. Gimlette only spent three months there. That might sound like a long time, but having spent six weeks there myself recently, I can only marvel at how much more Gimlette managed to pack in to his schedule. Now that was no doubt helped by travelling there on his own, but what is even clearer is that, to be as accomplished a travel writer as Gimlette, the first requirement is an inexhaustible curiosity coupled with the desire to always open oneself to the country and the people among which you are travelling. Personally, I can manage that for a while, but then I become overloaded and have to withdraw behind the barricades of privilege that being a (comparatively) wealthy in a poor country allows. I simply don't have the stamina for human interaction that Gimlette has.
So, while the idea of being paid to write about what I did on my holidays might initially appeal, during my own trip to Sri Lanka I realised that I did not have the combination of qualities required of a great travel writer. Gimlette has. Read his book.
May 19, 2020
Big books take a lot of time(I attempted three times before to read it).Its taken me a month and at best I was not reading more than fifty pages a day.Finally,here the review.
The book covers the author's travels all over Sri Lanka but later on focuses more on the civil war and its aftermath.The big books have a lot of text.Hence,they have a few problems.First,is lack of photographs.Then,the author didn't really dive into the history of LTTE.If he was not doing that,he shouldn't have raised the issue in almost every chapter.Third thing was the volume.In my opinion,the book could have been shortened by at least 150 pages.The editing was not that great.
Coming to the positives,the author makes reference to history of the site he visits,which is very essential.Then,he tells all about his experiences honestly.Further,the bibliography is also rich.
Its a book which is enjoyed with patience and considering its flaws,I give it three stars
The book covers the author's travels all over Sri Lanka but later on focuses more on the civil war and its aftermath.The big books have a lot of text.Hence,they have a few problems.First,is lack of photographs.Then,the author didn't really dive into the history of LTTE.If he was not doing that,he shouldn't have raised the issue in almost every chapter.Third thing was the volume.In my opinion,the book could have been shortened by at least 150 pages.The editing was not that great.
Coming to the positives,the author makes reference to history of the site he visits,which is very essential.Then,he tells all about his experiences honestly.Further,the bibliography is also rich.
Its a book which is enjoyed with patience and considering its flaws,I give it three stars
Read
February 10, 2016I've read a good number of travel books. From my armchair I've mushed across snows, climbed Everest and K2, even descended into the bowels of the earth and trekked across Asia. This book by John Gimlette is unlike Krakauer's, Viesturs', Danziger's or even Sarah Marquis' journals.
Gimlette takes a different, more erudite approach. His approach is part history, part investigative journalism and part travelogue. I think in part he takes this approach because so many people are not up-to-date with the turbulent history of Ceylon/Sri Lanka. As such there's something to be learned about how that history effects the people and the environment as they live today.
The book begins then with the recent history and the Tamil struggle. But throughout the book there is information about all the peoples that have come to this paradise: the British, the Moors, Indians, Portuguese and more. Each have left their imprint and as he travels throughout the country we get to see remnants that survive. Some of the relics of the British Empire are quite amusing.
What is less amusing is the child-sex industry. And here we get a bit of investigative journalism. Gimlette writes about how the perverted use of children has been driven into hiding, but that it's just as bad as it ever was. An unpleasant topic, to be sure, but nothing will change unless good people know about this sort of thing and find ways to combat it.
So this is what you need to know going into ELEPHANT COMPLEX. It's a well written book by an author who has done his research and knows his stuff. The book isn't just a simple book of here's-what-I-did-and-saw. It slips in bits of history (which I found easily digestible), and it includes a bit a journalistic inquiry. It's serious at points and funny at points. A good read.
~review copy
~book #15 for 2016
September 9, 2023
A read relevant and insightful pertaining my visit to Sri Lanka. It was almost perfect actually, that I happened to read chapters relating to places I was visiting the following day.
Natural storytelling and a well woven mix of history with present-day quirks and observations. Gimlette worked up an impressive set of contacts, including the famous ruling families, which made his anecdotes more dynamic and interesting to a modern day reader. I sometimes found the narration of anecdotes to be a bit abrupt, especially his initial chapter on Colombo, but I soon grew used to it (and the anecdotes became more thorough, including richer history as he explored more of the country and retold more of its history) and found it well suited to the nature of the book.
Yet, this was a view of Sri Lanka from an outsider, which Gimlette is clear he is. Maybe because he is British, but despite his learnings and developing understanding of the country as he travels through it, meeting people, I always sensed a lingering colonial mindset and sense of superiority. I felt it slightly diminished as the travelogue continued, but it made me a little guarded as I read on. I enjoyed ‘Elephant Complex’ because I too was travelling Sri Lanka and able to see the sights for myself and bring his descriptions to life. I think it is a helpful travel companion but potentially less enjoyable as a leisure read if one is not in the midst of the action.
Natural storytelling and a well woven mix of history with present-day quirks and observations. Gimlette worked up an impressive set of contacts, including the famous ruling families, which made his anecdotes more dynamic and interesting to a modern day reader. I sometimes found the narration of anecdotes to be a bit abrupt, especially his initial chapter on Colombo, but I soon grew used to it (and the anecdotes became more thorough, including richer history as he explored more of the country and retold more of its history) and found it well suited to the nature of the book.
Yet, this was a view of Sri Lanka from an outsider, which Gimlette is clear he is. Maybe because he is British, but despite his learnings and developing understanding of the country as he travels through it, meeting people, I always sensed a lingering colonial mindset and sense of superiority. I felt it slightly diminished as the travelogue continued, but it made me a little guarded as I read on. I enjoyed ‘Elephant Complex’ because I too was travelling Sri Lanka and able to see the sights for myself and bring his descriptions to life. I think it is a helpful travel companion but potentially less enjoyable as a leisure read if one is not in the midst of the action.
December 4, 2018
Loved the first 4 chapters - gave a fascinating and human insight into the years of destruction and death that has occurred in this beautiful country, and goes some way to explain the societal and behavioral nuances that exist in many communities across the country today.
However, about halfway in I started to struggle as it starts to feel a little gratuitous, and whilst I am happy for the author that he experienced such a colourful adventure throughout this enigmatic island, I found myself losing interest as prose took the same format again and again of: describe surroundings; describe people; relate an interaction; get out of there; next.
Overall a nice companion to have whilst travelling through Sri Lanka, and a book I may well reach to for reference in future, but not one I would sit down with and read cover to cover again.
However, about halfway in I started to struggle as it starts to feel a little gratuitous, and whilst I am happy for the author that he experienced such a colourful adventure throughout this enigmatic island, I found myself losing interest as prose took the same format again and again of: describe surroundings; describe people; relate an interaction; get out of there; next.
Overall a nice companion to have whilst travelling through Sri Lanka, and a book I may well reach to for reference in future, but not one I would sit down with and read cover to cover again.
October 25, 2018
Grimly fascinating account of this country and its dark ancient and contemporary history. Hard to imagine how much horror and trauma recent generations have lived through here when there is a veneer of incredible natural beauty everywhere we've been. I found myself bewildered by how this civil war unfolded and how there are clearly no good guys on either side. Glad I read it while traveling so my eyes were opened to the truth no one here wants to talk about.
September 20, 2016
Sri Lanka.
21 million people, half the square miles of New York State.
Island off the coast of India.
Beautiful geography.
Murderous people. Tamils and Sinhalese killed each other for 15 years.
Before that, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English murdered them.
Tourists come and don't care.
Fantastic book - the world is diverse,
21 million people, half the square miles of New York State.
Island off the coast of India.
Beautiful geography.
Murderous people. Tamils and Sinhalese killed each other for 15 years.
Before that, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English murdered them.
Tourists come and don't care.
Fantastic book - the world is diverse,
September 22, 2016
A beautiful (if a little heavy) book that is best read whilst travelling through Sri Lanka. Full of beautiful thoughts, the brutal history of the island is brought to life by his descriptive writing and I often found myself giggling at the quirks he pointed out that I also have already noticed and laughed when I experienced them later. A fantastic blend of travel writing and history.
April 24, 2024
A love letter to knowing a guy who knows a guy who happens to be ex-prime minister/army general/star cricketer/hotelier/tuktuk driver/ferry driver/elephant driver/elephant
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First time I have ever read travel writing and was expecting it to perhaps verge on ‘white guy explains countries he’s been in for a few months’ but there is a great mix of extensive research (both paper and interviews) coupled with an admittance throughout that he can’t begin to understand the complexities of the place. And this inability to understand isn’t an obstacle for him to love the country, instead its part of its appeal.
Reading this partly before and partly during visiting Sri Lanka did give me a bit of imposter syndrome that I didn’t know enough about the country I was in, that I wasn’t seeing enough of the country while I was here, and that I wasn’t seeing it in a ‘real’ enough way, as the writer seemed to do. But actually that’s all fine, I think. I too can enjoy the not understanding Sri Lanka fully but still appreciating the country massively.
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Not enough (any) time devoted to talking about monkeys eating jackfruit in the botanic garden and the baby monkeys trying to eat the dropped bits and falling over loads - imo the best bit of Sri Lanka
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First time I have ever read travel writing and was expecting it to perhaps verge on ‘white guy explains countries he’s been in for a few months’ but there is a great mix of extensive research (both paper and interviews) coupled with an admittance throughout that he can’t begin to understand the complexities of the place. And this inability to understand isn’t an obstacle for him to love the country, instead its part of its appeal.
Reading this partly before and partly during visiting Sri Lanka did give me a bit of imposter syndrome that I didn’t know enough about the country I was in, that I wasn’t seeing enough of the country while I was here, and that I wasn’t seeing it in a ‘real’ enough way, as the writer seemed to do. But actually that’s all fine, I think. I too can enjoy the not understanding Sri Lanka fully but still appreciating the country massively.
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Not enough (any) time devoted to talking about monkeys eating jackfruit in the botanic garden and the baby monkeys trying to eat the dropped bits and falling over loads - imo the best bit of Sri Lanka
October 1, 2018
This is my first time reading this author, but I chose this book because I'm going to Sri Lanka soon and wanted to learn a little bit about the country. I was looking for a book that was informative, interesting, and didn't portray the country as an exotic wonder, but rather a book that journalisitically covered the areas of the country. This book delivers on all of those.
Gimlette, although not a native Sri Lankan, seems to really have done his research. Each section of the book is broken up into different areas of the country, and he gives both a good overview of the town, as well as some fun and interesting personal anecdotes about people who helped him write his book and travel though the country.
This book culminates on the Sri Lankan civil war, the LTTE, and the areas affected. The writing on the war seemed disjointed and sprawling, but I think that's just how war really is.
This isn't a book that really focuses on chronicaling the culture of Sri Lanka; there's a few mentions of food and music and style, but those aren't really the purpose of this book. This book is about the landscape, the history, and the war. He does talk quite a bit about the hotels though, and makes some good recommendations.
I think if you're interested in learning about the food, drinks, ceremonial and architectural aspects of Sri Lanka, you'd be better off reading a travel guide book.
At the end of the book, he's got some great suggested reading on Sri Lanka, and I'm definitely going to read the one of Robert Knox and his account of Kandy, wow! That seems like it could be a great movie.
If you're interested in the nature of the country, as I am, in his recommendations at the end, he does mention two books, Wild Sri Lanka and Birds of Sri Lanka by John Beaufoy, both of which I'm going to look into.
Thanks Gimlette, I learned a lot about Sri Lanka from this book. I wonder, how long did you stay there in total? At some points I thought a few months, at others, years.
A final word: The term Elephant Complex is largely used as a metaphor in this book. Elephants do come up in the book, but they're not a central theme. It doesn't make the book any less good, but, if your'e looking to read about elephants, you won't learn much here.
Gimlette, although not a native Sri Lankan, seems to really have done his research. Each section of the book is broken up into different areas of the country, and he gives both a good overview of the town, as well as some fun and interesting personal anecdotes about people who helped him write his book and travel though the country.
This book culminates on the Sri Lankan civil war, the LTTE, and the areas affected. The writing on the war seemed disjointed and sprawling, but I think that's just how war really is.
This isn't a book that really focuses on chronicaling the culture of Sri Lanka; there's a few mentions of food and music and style, but those aren't really the purpose of this book. This book is about the landscape, the history, and the war. He does talk quite a bit about the hotels though, and makes some good recommendations.
I think if you're interested in learning about the food, drinks, ceremonial and architectural aspects of Sri Lanka, you'd be better off reading a travel guide book.
At the end of the book, he's got some great suggested reading on Sri Lanka, and I'm definitely going to read the one of Robert Knox and his account of Kandy, wow! That seems like it could be a great movie.
If you're interested in the nature of the country, as I am, in his recommendations at the end, he does mention two books, Wild Sri Lanka and Birds of Sri Lanka by John Beaufoy, both of which I'm going to look into.
Thanks Gimlette, I learned a lot about Sri Lanka from this book. I wonder, how long did you stay there in total? At some points I thought a few months, at others, years.
A final word: The term Elephant Complex is largely used as a metaphor in this book. Elephants do come up in the book, but they're not a central theme. It doesn't make the book any less good, but, if your'e looking to read about elephants, you won't learn much here.
October 19, 2025
Gimlette provides an impressive description of every nook and cranny of Sri Lanka, but Elephant Complex is written in the slightly orientalist way that only a white British man could muster. It is in many ways a fantastic catalogue of the island’s history and regions, but falls into tropes in his descriptions of Sri Lankans and their various cultures. Could have been a shorter and more digestible book if he halved the number of adjectives.
December 31, 2024
A lot of people recommended this book to better understand Sri Lanka … but I found the author to be patronising and somewhat colonialist in his observations.
November 28, 2023
这是一部把个人游记和历史挖掘结合得相当不错的作品。相比之前读的那本《斯里兰卡史》，这本游记反而为我提供了一幅关于斯里兰卡历史的更鲜活的图景。
作者说他花了2年时间来做人脉和阅读的准备，然后花了3个月游历其间。就这个成果而言，我想他的时间并没有白费。尤其对于即将展开一趟斯里兰卡之旅的读者来说，这本书就显得更有价值了。
“在我前往斯里兰卡之前，有人告诫我说，等我离开的时候，我对这个国家的了解还不如刚来的时候。在某种程度上，确实如此。”
想必这将是一段充满困惑的旅途了吧。
作者说他花了2年时间来做人脉和阅读的准备，然后花了3个月游历其间。就这个成果而言，我想他的时间并没有白费。尤其对于即将展开一趟斯里兰卡之旅的读者来说，这本书就显得更有价值了。
“在我前往斯里兰卡之前，有人告诫我说，等我离开的时候，我对这个国家的了解还不如刚来的时候。在某种程度上，确实如此。”
想必这将是一段充满困惑的旅途了吧。
February 22, 2018
I am not unfamiliar with the author [1] thanks to being a fond reader of travel books. Admittedly, Sri Lanka is not a nation I am familiar with myself [2], although my mum and stepfather did visit there one time. Even so, like the author's other books I found much to appreciate here and much to think about and ponder concerning the complexities of Sri Lanka as a society in the face of its deep conflicts as well as its troubled and complicated history. The author appears to be one who is not content to enjoy the superficial but he really wants to understand the places he visits and as much of their history as possible, which frequently involves questions of culture, imperialism, immigration, politics, and related concerns. In this particular book the author manages to divide his chapters in an interesting way, providing point and counterpoint about a particular part of the country, showing both positive and negative perspectives and letting the reader decide for oneself which perspective to believe in the fact of the writing that follows. As for me, I found this book to present Sri Lanka as a deeply troubled nation, one not inclined to dig too deeply and all too quick to blame others, especially Americans, for their home-cooked problems.
In terms of its structure, this book is divided based on regions, which seem surprisingly complicated for an area as small as Sri Lanka. To give some idea of the complexity of the regional geography discussed by this book, the author has chapters on the following area: Colombo, the elephant reservoirs that were interior kingdoms once upon a time, the cinnamon forts, the the Buddhist "Bible Belt" of eastern Sri Lanka, the high road to Kandy, Kandy, the tea plantations where "Tea Tamils" work despite a lack of citizenship and legitimacy, the wild east where Sri Lanka's last indigenous people reside, the area o Trinco, the mostly Tamil part of northern Sri Lanka, the Jaffna Peninsula, and the area of Millaitivu where the Sri Lankan army finally defeated the resistance of the Tamils in a bloodbath. The author explores the complicated human and religious history as well as the origins and tragic course of the conflicts between Sinhalese and Tamils, pointing out as well the sad fate of those who were caught in the middle like Sri Lankan Muslims, who were disliked and mistrusted by both sides, as well as a few decent people on all sides of Sri Lanka's complicated cultural mix.
Ultimately, this book is a sad one that demonstrates the troubles Sri Lanka faces. The author does not hide either the horrors and abuses of the Portuguese or the violence of imperialism or the horrors that have resulted from the chauvinism of the Sinhalese in recent decades, where populist political leaders stirred up among Sri Lanka's majority a disrespect for minorities that has had tragic consequences. The author even points out the problems faced by India and Norway and others who have tried, unsuccessfully, to encourage peace between the warring cultures of the area who once lived more peacefully before democracy and electoral politics made it politically beneficial to appeal to the basest of instincts among Sri Lanka's Buddhist majority. This book, and the horrors that it discusses in violence and rapine and destruction in the course of decades of ruinous conflict, are the kind that remind us that even places which may appear on their surface to be beautiful and even edenic often have longstanding and great evils that are only waiting to come to the surface before they cause horrible consequences. I have no particular plans to go to Sri Lanka anytime soon, but if I do visit, I will likely do so in a more melancholy way than many other visitors likely do, particularly in light of its continuing exploitation of the young in the global sex trade as well as its horrible treatment of minorities.
[1] See, for example:
http://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018/...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
In terms of its structure, this book is divided based on regions, which seem surprisingly complicated for an area as small as Sri Lanka. To give some idea of the complexity of the regional geography discussed by this book, the author has chapters on the following area: Colombo, the elephant reservoirs that were interior kingdoms once upon a time, the cinnamon forts, the the Buddhist "Bible Belt" of eastern Sri Lanka, the high road to Kandy, Kandy, the tea plantations where "Tea Tamils" work despite a lack of citizenship and legitimacy, the wild east where Sri Lanka's last indigenous people reside, the area o Trinco, the mostly Tamil part of northern Sri Lanka, the Jaffna Peninsula, and the area of Millaitivu where the Sri Lankan army finally defeated the resistance of the Tamils in a bloodbath. The author explores the complicated human and religious history as well as the origins and tragic course of the conflicts between Sinhalese and Tamils, pointing out as well the sad fate of those who were caught in the middle like Sri Lankan Muslims, who were disliked and mistrusted by both sides, as well as a few decent people on all sides of Sri Lanka's complicated cultural mix.
Ultimately, this book is a sad one that demonstrates the troubles Sri Lanka faces. The author does not hide either the horrors and abuses of the Portuguese or the violence of imperialism or the horrors that have resulted from the chauvinism of the Sinhalese in recent decades, where populist political leaders stirred up among Sri Lanka's majority a disrespect for minorities that has had tragic consequences. The author even points out the problems faced by India and Norway and others who have tried, unsuccessfully, to encourage peace between the warring cultures of the area who once lived more peacefully before democracy and electoral politics made it politically beneficial to appeal to the basest of instincts among Sri Lanka's Buddhist majority. This book, and the horrors that it discusses in violence and rapine and destruction in the course of decades of ruinous conflict, are the kind that remind us that even places which may appear on their surface to be beautiful and even edenic often have longstanding and great evils that are only waiting to come to the surface before they cause horrible consequences. I have no particular plans to go to Sri Lanka anytime soon, but if I do visit, I will likely do so in a more melancholy way than many other visitors likely do, particularly in light of its continuing exploitation of the young in the global sex trade as well as its horrible treatment of minorities.
[1] See, for example:
http://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018/...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
[2] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
November 12, 2017
Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka is an unforgettable travelogue centred around a wide range of vignettes assembled by Gimlette as he travels around the country formerly known as Ceylon. Providing a wealth of information on the country's ancient history, colonial era and most especially its civil war, this book provides a great primer for anyone looking to visit the country and understand why it is indeed, paradise damaged.
While Gimlette's writing style does take some time to get used to, as he bounces from one person to next, given the quality of what he produces, it is most assuredly worth the effort and we are rewarded quickly for our perseverance.
Gimlette uses an even-handed approach when detailing the reasons behind Asia's longest war that spanned a quarter of a century and in providing the necessary background information to its main protagonist, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have been heralded as one of the worst terrorist organisations in the world and responsible for inventing the suicide bomber, in addition to the role that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) also played.
Beyond the conflict, Elephant Complex delves deeper into the history of this perplexing country which seems always to have been divided by race, religion, class and caste. Taking a combination of trains, buses, tuk tuks and private car, Gimlette tackles a large and diverse range of topics. Pearl fishing, the irrigation reservoirs of the North Central Province, Sri Lanka's cinnamon trade, the underbelly of paedophilia and people-trafficking are all thoroughly examined, in addition to the obligatory information provided on our favourite pachyderm, of which there are an estimated 3,000 running wild and wreaking havoc amidst the Sri Lankan countryside.
I doubt that there is a better primer to Sri Lanka's history than that which Elephant Complex provides. Sensitively written, Gimlette provides a wonderfully researched and impartial account of Sri Lanka's civil war, its history and its people that is essential reading for anyone trying to understand this complex and bewildering country. This is a book that presents Sri Lanka's history and much more in an extremely accessible fashion and unquestionably is one of the best all round books for trying to understand more about this fragmented and complex country.
While Gimlette's writing style does take some time to get used to, as he bounces from one person to next, given the quality of what he produces, it is most assuredly worth the effort and we are rewarded quickly for our perseverance.
Gimlette uses an even-handed approach when detailing the reasons behind Asia's longest war that spanned a quarter of a century and in providing the necessary background information to its main protagonist, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have been heralded as one of the worst terrorist organisations in the world and responsible for inventing the suicide bomber, in addition to the role that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) also played.
Beyond the conflict, Elephant Complex delves deeper into the history of this perplexing country which seems always to have been divided by race, religion, class and caste. Taking a combination of trains, buses, tuk tuks and private car, Gimlette tackles a large and diverse range of topics. Pearl fishing, the irrigation reservoirs of the North Central Province, Sri Lanka's cinnamon trade, the underbelly of paedophilia and people-trafficking are all thoroughly examined, in addition to the obligatory information provided on our favourite pachyderm, of which there are an estimated 3,000 running wild and wreaking havoc amidst the Sri Lankan countryside.
I doubt that there is a better primer to Sri Lanka's history than that which Elephant Complex provides. Sensitively written, Gimlette provides a wonderfully researched and impartial account of Sri Lanka's civil war, its history and its people that is essential reading for anyone trying to understand this complex and bewildering country. This is a book that presents Sri Lanka's history and much more in an extremely accessible fashion and unquestionably is one of the best all round books for trying to understand more about this fragmented and complex country.
April 8, 2018
Can I give this 4.5 stars? I really love John Gimlette's way with prose. His descriptors are other-worldly and imaginative: aging soldiers ridden with pock marks are boils are "barnacled," backhoes and tractors are "hulking crustaceans" in on a salty field (can you tell I'm drawn to ocean imagery? haha!). My favorite line, perhaps was this one: "The rain trees were dripping caterpillars and, in the canopy, thick clusters of fruit bats were slowly unbuckling themselves and flopping away across the forest." Enviably crafted prose aside, I also enjoyed the format—the way the narrative flip-flopped between the author's more present-day experience and vivid, well researched and equally detailed historical stories from the place where the author was at that point in the book.
However, despite being beautifully written, I sometimes felt distracted by the abstract descriptions and had trouble following and remembering details as I went along. I feel victim to and got mired down in the beautifully written details and often lost sight of the bigger picture. As a result, this book felt like heavy reading and I could only complete a chapter or two without setting it down for a pause—in that regard it was like an incredibly rich and dense chocolate dessert. I'm glad I didn't give up, because it was a good read down to the end. And, of course, now I need to go to Sri Lanka.
However, despite being beautifully written, I sometimes felt distracted by the abstract descriptions and had trouble following and remembering details as I went along. I feel victim to and got mired down in the beautifully written details and often lost sight of the bigger picture. As a result, this book felt like heavy reading and I could only complete a chapter or two without setting it down for a pause—in that regard it was like an incredibly rich and dense chocolate dessert. I'm glad I didn't give up, because it was a good read down to the end. And, of course, now I need to go to Sri Lanka.
October 23, 2018
I first heard of John Gimlette when he spoke at the Galle Literary Festival here in Sri Lanka. I have travelled widely myself and picked up the occasional travel book. But this was a real treasure for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, and my favourite aspect of the book was that he brought to life much of the dry dull history I learned in school many years ago. And there were so many interesting facts and anecdotes that none of us had read about! And put across with such humour too...
What impressed me was that he tackled both ancient and recent history, including the ethnic war. There are many who believe he as an outsider had no right to write of what he knew nothing about, but I disagree. He handled sensitive issues without much open bias. Neither party were completely blameless in the whole sordid affair.
He also highlighted many social issues such as prostitution that is the ugly truth that many ignore.
I read the paperback edition, and it was quite a massive tome - I lugged it up and down for days before finally getting to the end of it. But not once did I wish to abandon it halfway.
Firstly, and my favourite aspect of the book was that he brought to life much of the dry dull history I learned in school many years ago. And there were so many interesting facts and anecdotes that none of us had read about! And put across with such humour too...
What impressed me was that he tackled both ancient and recent history, including the ethnic war. There are many who believe he as an outsider had no right to write of what he knew nothing about, but I disagree. He handled sensitive issues without much open bias. Neither party were completely blameless in the whole sordid affair.
He also highlighted many social issues such as prostitution that is the ugly truth that many ignore.
I read the paperback edition, and it was quite a massive tome - I lugged it up and down for days before finally getting to the end of it. But not once did I wish to abandon it halfway.
December 17, 2017
John Gimlette is one of my favorite travel lit authors, and this book did nothing to change that opinion. He is insightful, objective and never dull.
So why only 3 stars? Perhaps because I did not feel this book was on the same level as At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig. I read that book more years than I care to count and it has remained with me to this day .... it changed how I thought of Paraguay completely. This book did not do the same for Sri Lanka. This could be because I had already read some excellent books on the Tigers and the war that I felt provided deeper insight.
But I think the biggest reason I didn't fully connect was the vignette-style of writing. I never felt fully invested in any particular story, person or location. The vignettes were interesting, but too disjointed for me. I always wanted more.
I recommend this book as an enjoyable introduction to Sri Lanka, but if you want a more in depth look at the Civil War I would read The Cage by Gordon Weiss.
So why only 3 stars? Perhaps because I did not feel this book was on the same level as At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig. I read that book more years than I care to count and it has remained with me to this day .... it changed how I thought of Paraguay completely. This book did not do the same for Sri Lanka. This could be because I had already read some excellent books on the Tigers and the war that I felt provided deeper insight.
But I think the biggest reason I didn't fully connect was the vignette-style of writing. I never felt fully invested in any particular story, person or location. The vignettes were interesting, but too disjointed for me. I always wanted more.
I recommend this book as an enjoyable introduction to Sri Lanka, but if you want a more in depth look at the Civil War I would read The Cage by Gordon Weiss.
September 9, 2017
Read this before and during my holiday in Sri Lanka. Gives an excellent overview of the country and its history which reveals itself to the reader gradually, culminating in an account of the end of the civil war. The chapters are sequenced and themed in a general anti-clockwise journey around the island starting in Colombo/Negombo.
On my travels I met a scientist from England who said that he found this book quite dense; I was grateful to find that it wasn't just me who felt this! I think that the subject matter is so complex (as per the title) that it couldn't be anything but dense.
A very worthwhile read if you are visiting or have been to the island. A fascinating book about a unique country.
On my travels I met a scientist from England who said that he found this book quite dense; I was grateful to find that it wasn't just me who felt this! I think that the subject matter is so complex (as per the title) that it couldn't be anything but dense.
A very worthwhile read if you are visiting or have been to the island. A fascinating book about a unique country.
January 4, 2017
It's a dreadful bore, so much so, that in spite of my best efforts I can't bring myself to finish it. I picked it up for a pound in the bargain bin of a well known bookshop, taking a chance on something beyond my usual tastes, sadly I found it disappointing. The stories were dull and the book as a whole seemed to lack any discernible structure. I believe Sri Lanka is a fascinating place, the author however singularly fails to capture or convey the feel, the atmosphere, or the culture.
A series of anecdotal tales is fine, if they're good, these ones aren't.
A series of anecdotal tales is fine, if they're good, these ones aren't.
January 6, 2017
I read this before, during and immediately after my first visit of Sri Lanka. A beautiful travel journal focused on the island's history, this was a pleasant detailed knowledgeable resource; rarely have I had the opportunity to be so well (and enjoyably) informed for a trip. The book is wonderfully well written, the list of resources used for its completion vast.
February 19, 2017
Having loving the author's book about Paraguay I looked for this one just before I departed for my own travels in Sri Lanka. I didn't enjoy this reading as much. I found it too focused in the civil war, with too little of traveling.
October 13, 2017
Utterly absorbing perceptive book. He has been able to sift out the golden truths from the landscape and the people. I loved this book.
May 4, 2021
I picked up the book at the Galle Lit Fest a couple of years back where the author spoke at the event. A point that struck me during his talk is that Sri Lanka is a place of contradictions. This was especially the case to an outsider like the author where foreigners couldn't fathom how at one end of the island a raging civil war was going on while at the other end of it there was a booming luxury tourist resorts. This was mirrored in alot of the locations which the author touches on the book which intersects with the war and other tragedies where staring out to the the sea from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, it is juxtaposed with the sight of a cargo freighter riddled with bullet holes where the tigers made their final stand. This is a theme the author returns to over and over again throughout the book where despite all the violence and tragedy, there is some irresistible force which keeps compelling people to keep returning to the island.
The author offers an outsiders perspective of Sri Lanka highlighting his travels which takes him to very unexpected places and doesn't shy away from the troubled history and where in his talk he described Sri Lankans on how we are all "Tikkak Pissu" . The book is well researched and filled with interviews with colourful personalities from all walks of life. At the same time, the book doesn't try to overwhelm the reader with facts and figures and instead its written in a way to tell a very readable story.
More than a travel log, it reads more like an adventure novel and i like how along the events have been laid out, the people he interviews are framed in a way to fit a particular theme for each chapter. Ex: The courtly Kandyans, the Wild East, edgy Negombo, The tea capital etc. I particularly like how the writing and the framing shifts from chapter to chapter. While because of this it does feel at times like the events described and encounters that take place are written in a very subjective manner from a particularly viewpoint in order fit the them and where some of the encounters he describes such as his crazy driver, the ghost stories and crazy coincidences seem to be really outlandish, but knowing how many improbable things happen on a day to day basis in Sri Lanka; doesn't actually feel that far fetched and is keeping with the spirit of it!
Some of the Interesting trivia that caught my attention were:
Colombo lost for a piece of Cheese - The capture of Colombo by the British was conceived by a Professor Cleghorn while on Holiday where he met the Count De Meuron who was the brother of the Commander of the VOC's Swiss garrison in Colombo. They agreed on a price for the Swiss mercenaries to switch sides and the message of this was smuggled to the brother in a Hollowed out Cheese
Elephant pass - The location made famous or infamous during the war, to the Vanniyas, it was also the perfect place to bring wild elephants driving them out of the forest and offering them a choice; Die, swim or learn to work which is where the place got its name
An interesting visitor to Fort Fredrick, Trinco - in the late 1800s Arthur Wellesley. i.e the later famous Duke of Wellington was suffering from 'Malabar Itch'. The forts remedy was a tincture of Sulfur and Lard didn't work and as a result he missed the next ship that was to sail to the campaign to Egypt but never made it as it sunk in the red sea. According to the author, but for Trinco's cure; the rest of century would've looked a lot more French!
While the novel might seem daunting at first at over 400 pages, the writing is very sharp and evocative and each chapter is divided into a series of little vignette's which makes for easy reading .While I wouldn't recommend this book if you are looking for a more traditional travel guide and would caution that you do need some basic knowledge of Sri Lanka and its history to appreciate the novel, overall it makes for a very entertaining read.
The author offers an outsiders perspective of Sri Lanka highlighting his travels which takes him to very unexpected places and doesn't shy away from the troubled history and where in his talk he described Sri Lankans on how we are all "Tikkak Pissu" . The book is well researched and filled with interviews with colourful personalities from all walks of life. At the same time, the book doesn't try to overwhelm the reader with facts and figures and instead its written in a way to tell a very readable story.
More than a travel log, it reads more like an adventure novel and i like how along the events have been laid out, the people he interviews are framed in a way to fit a particular theme for each chapter. Ex: The courtly Kandyans, the Wild East, edgy Negombo, The tea capital etc. I particularly like how the writing and the framing shifts from chapter to chapter. While because of this it does feel at times like the events described and encounters that take place are written in a very subjective manner from a particularly viewpoint in order fit the them and where some of the encounters he describes such as his crazy driver, the ghost stories and crazy coincidences seem to be really outlandish, but knowing how many improbable things happen on a day to day basis in Sri Lanka; doesn't actually feel that far fetched and is keeping with the spirit of it!
Some of the Interesting trivia that caught my attention were:
Colombo lost for a piece of Cheese - The capture of Colombo by the British was conceived by a Professor Cleghorn while on Holiday where he met the Count De Meuron who was the brother of the Commander of the VOC's Swiss garrison in Colombo. They agreed on a price for the Swiss mercenaries to switch sides and the message of this was smuggled to the brother in a Hollowed out Cheese
Elephant pass - The location made famous or infamous during the war, to the Vanniyas, it was also the perfect place to bring wild elephants driving them out of the forest and offering them a choice; Die, swim or learn to work which is where the place got its name
An interesting visitor to Fort Fredrick, Trinco - in the late 1800s Arthur Wellesley. i.e the later famous Duke of Wellington was suffering from 'Malabar Itch'. The forts remedy was a tincture of Sulfur and Lard didn't work and as a result he missed the next ship that was to sail to the campaign to Egypt but never made it as it sunk in the red sea. According to the author, but for Trinco's cure; the rest of century would've looked a lot more French!
While the novel might seem daunting at first at over 400 pages, the writing is very sharp and evocative and each chapter is divided into a series of little vignette's which makes for easy reading .While I wouldn't recommend this book if you are looking for a more traditional travel guide and would caution that you do need some basic knowledge of Sri Lanka and its history to appreciate the novel, overall it makes for a very entertaining read.
April 7, 2021
I love John Gimlette's other books- Tomb of the Inflatable Pig is one of my all time favourite travel books. I was therefore excited when I spotted this one and wondered how I'd missed it. I've also visited Sri Lanka myself around 15 years ago so was eager to begin the book. I really wanted to like it, but unfortunately found myself persevering rather than enjoying it and eventually I 'parked' it around a third of the way through and began something else. I'm struggling to put my finger on the reason but it may be that now Gimlette is a more famous writer than when he visited Paraguay, he is moving in more refined circles and is therefore less exposed to the rigours of life in the developing world. He flits effortlessly across the higher echelons of middle class Sri Lanakan society, and although the writing style is, as usual, excellent -descriptive and filled with interesting historical facts, I found myself becoming bored by a lack of incident. Maybe I'll try it again at some point but up to now, my verdict is 'disappointing'.
March 29, 2016
Gimlette, John. Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2016 (339pp.illus, maps, $28.95)
Master travel writer and London solicitor John Gimlette’s journey to Sri Lanka began with a modest bus ride from his home in southwest London, where nearby he tell us,
some 8,000 British Tamils live in Tooting, all originally from the town of Velvettithurai, and many of whom are members of tough urban gangs with names like “the Tamil Posse” or “the Jaffna Boys”. Unlikely as it sounds for England, these toughs had run amok on a beach in Norfolk in 2001 stabbing and beating holidaymakers. He’d been given lots of advice about Sri Lanka before leaving—that it was a lush land scrabbled with land mines left over from the long civil war (1983-2009), with jungle chocked full of rabid dogs, marauding elephants and poisonous scorpions. If there was one thing people loved telling him about Columbo, the island nation’s capital, it was that more people die there of snakebite than anywhere else in the world. “With hundreds of miles ahead, none of this was particularly encouraging,” Gimlette concludes.
What follows is an enchanting, intelligent and riotously engaging book that spins vividly through an island that is at once charmingly paradisiacal and innocently menacing. Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon under its many colonial (Portuguese, Dutch, English, Japanese, then English again) conquerors, is a famously ancient civilization, a redoubt of Buddhist culture amid a Hindu world. In Colombo, Gimlette encounters a charming polyglot world, visiting ancient ruins and the old forts of the Dutch and English alike. At ease with everyone he meets, Gimlette demonstrates on every page his discerning eye for nuance, speaking with Test cricketers, slum-dwellers, British tea planters, academics, and the scions of wealthy Sinhalese families who’ve run the country for centuries. Driving with a guide along the southern coast, he views the ruins of the 2004 tsunami; farther along the coast the road peters out in sand dune and acacia scrub and he’s in the country of the legendary Vedda-forest dwellers, scrawny yogi-types who represent the aboriginal inhabitants with their magic incantations, potions and mystical theology. In the central mountains surrounding the ancient traditional Sinhalese capital Kandy, Gimlette forges intrepidly up narrow paths to view the huge reservoirs constructed more than two thousand years ago when Sinhalese hydraulic culture dwarfed that of nascent Rome.
Although the civil war between Tamil (Hindu) and Sinhalese (Buddhist) is over, it was a brutal struggle, with horrors on both sides and hundreds of thousands of deaths, slaughters in battle, suicide bombings, and massacres. In the hardscrabble towns along Sri Lanka’s west coast—towns like Karaitvu, Trincomalee and Mullaitivu, Gimlette wanders amid the unmarked graves of the combatants. Despite a decade of peace, the Sri Lankans seem not to have come to terms with the past. There seem no signs they intend to dredge it up now in the name of “reconciliation”, as did the South Africans.
Part of the glory of reading Gimlette is his colorful language, as captivating as travel writing can be: Writing about a Dutch fort-- “It wasn’t easy to take it all in: the sky full of stone and parallel lines; a great pentagon of defenses, sheer, colossal, and technically perfect; twenty-two hectares of ravelins and glacises, and ramparts up to ten meters thick.” And then one day, Gimlette grabs a bedraggled train out of Colombo headed for the town of Ambalangoda, partway to the highlands: “The train wobbled out of Colombo and was soon amongst sawmills. Pencil-scented breezes gushed in through the windows and at last the carriage began to cool. The Marxists had worked through the woodwork, and covered everything in stickers. The man next to me was a healer, with a briefcase of unguents and stones. He said nothing until a man appeared out in the sawdust, beating a dog. “An unfortunate sight, no? But our dogs here are dirty.” “Can’t they be culled?” Gimlette asked him. The healer winced. “Killed? That would be against our beliefs.” On this particular trip, Gimlette learns that ginger is the best cure for colds, and wild lily for baldness. A man must never appear before his superior with his hair down, or with his sarong drawn up. There are omens everywhere. Nor should you swim at twilight. Those who become possessed need to make offers of puttu, or fried food, and rooster’s blood. The people of Colombo are horrified by the magicians, but wouldn’t use anyone else.
Gimlette, winner of the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and the Wanderlust Travel Award, not to mention a Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award for “Wild Coast”, his wonderful last book, has taken on the mantle of “best” travel writer last worn by the likes of V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux. Like all great travelers he is intrepid and fearless, sharp-eyed and open to experience. He strips away veneer and penetrates every page with the lucidity of his opinions. Witty, gregarious, patient and humble, Gimlette practices his trade with the same ornery genius as Robert Byron, and with the same knowledge of architecture, history and art. Despite the grayness of his visage and his pot-bellied body, Gimlette has the courage of Marco Polo. On his last morning in Colombo he said his goodbyes—to Elmo, Ravi, and at dinner with Mohammed out at the golf club; he said goodbye to Professor Wijesinha at the Green Café, and met up with an investigative journalist who’d been on the run during the civil war, but now looked resplendent in an all-white suit. He also went to Gangarama, for one last moment with the temple’s elephant.
Then Gimlette flew home to his suburban house in southwest London.
Master travel writer and London solicitor John Gimlette’s journey to Sri Lanka began with a modest bus ride from his home in southwest London, where nearby he tell us,
some 8,000 British Tamils live in Tooting, all originally from the town of Velvettithurai, and many of whom are members of tough urban gangs with names like “the Tamil Posse” or “the Jaffna Boys”. Unlikely as it sounds for England, these toughs had run amok on a beach in Norfolk in 2001 stabbing and beating holidaymakers. He’d been given lots of advice about Sri Lanka before leaving—that it was a lush land scrabbled with land mines left over from the long civil war (1983-2009), with jungle chocked full of rabid dogs, marauding elephants and poisonous scorpions. If there was one thing people loved telling him about Columbo, the island nation’s capital, it was that more people die there of snakebite than anywhere else in the world. “With hundreds of miles ahead, none of this was particularly encouraging,” Gimlette concludes.
What follows is an enchanting, intelligent and riotously engaging book that spins vividly through an island that is at once charmingly paradisiacal and innocently menacing. Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon under its many colonial (Portuguese, Dutch, English, Japanese, then English again) conquerors, is a famously ancient civilization, a redoubt of Buddhist culture amid a Hindu world. In Colombo, Gimlette encounters a charming polyglot world, visiting ancient ruins and the old forts of the Dutch and English alike. At ease with everyone he meets, Gimlette demonstrates on every page his discerning eye for nuance, speaking with Test cricketers, slum-dwellers, British tea planters, academics, and the scions of wealthy Sinhalese families who’ve run the country for centuries. Driving with a guide along the southern coast, he views the ruins of the 2004 tsunami; farther along the coast the road peters out in sand dune and acacia scrub and he’s in the country of the legendary Vedda-forest dwellers, scrawny yogi-types who represent the aboriginal inhabitants with their magic incantations, potions and mystical theology. In the central mountains surrounding the ancient traditional Sinhalese capital Kandy, Gimlette forges intrepidly up narrow paths to view the huge reservoirs constructed more than two thousand years ago when Sinhalese hydraulic culture dwarfed that of nascent Rome.
Although the civil war between Tamil (Hindu) and Sinhalese (Buddhist) is over, it was a brutal struggle, with horrors on both sides and hundreds of thousands of deaths, slaughters in battle, suicide bombings, and massacres. In the hardscrabble towns along Sri Lanka’s west coast—towns like Karaitvu, Trincomalee and Mullaitivu, Gimlette wanders amid the unmarked graves of the combatants. Despite a decade of peace, the Sri Lankans seem not to have come to terms with the past. There seem no signs they intend to dredge it up now in the name of “reconciliation”, as did the South Africans.
Part of the glory of reading Gimlette is his colorful language, as captivating as travel writing can be: Writing about a Dutch fort-- “It wasn’t easy to take it all in: the sky full of stone and parallel lines; a great pentagon of defenses, sheer, colossal, and technically perfect; twenty-two hectares of ravelins and glacises, and ramparts up to ten meters thick.” And then one day, Gimlette grabs a bedraggled train out of Colombo headed for the town of Ambalangoda, partway to the highlands: “The train wobbled out of Colombo and was soon amongst sawmills. Pencil-scented breezes gushed in through the windows and at last the carriage began to cool. The Marxists had worked through the woodwork, and covered everything in stickers. The man next to me was a healer, with a briefcase of unguents and stones. He said nothing until a man appeared out in the sawdust, beating a dog. “An unfortunate sight, no? But our dogs here are dirty.” “Can’t they be culled?” Gimlette asked him. The healer winced. “Killed? That would be against our beliefs.” On this particular trip, Gimlette learns that ginger is the best cure for colds, and wild lily for baldness. A man must never appear before his superior with his hair down, or with his sarong drawn up. There are omens everywhere. Nor should you swim at twilight. Those who become possessed need to make offers of puttu, or fried food, and rooster’s blood. The people of Colombo are horrified by the magicians, but wouldn’t use anyone else.
Gimlette, winner of the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and the Wanderlust Travel Award, not to mention a Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award for “Wild Coast”, his wonderful last book, has taken on the mantle of “best” travel writer last worn by the likes of V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux. Like all great travelers he is intrepid and fearless, sharp-eyed and open to experience. He strips away veneer and penetrates every page with the lucidity of his opinions. Witty, gregarious, patient and humble, Gimlette practices his trade with the same ornery genius as Robert Byron, and with the same knowledge of architecture, history and art. Despite the grayness of his visage and his pot-bellied body, Gimlette has the courage of Marco Polo. On his last morning in Colombo he said his goodbyes—to Elmo, Ravi, and at dinner with Mohammed out at the golf club; he said goodbye to Professor Wijesinha at the Green Café, and met up with an investigative journalist who’d been on the run during the civil war, but now looked resplendent in an all-white suit. He also went to Gangarama, for one last moment with the temple’s elephant.
Then Gimlette flew home to his suburban house in southwest London.
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