Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka (Vintage Departures)
Description
“Brilliant.” —The Daily Telegraph
No one sees the world quite like John Gimlette. In Elephant Complex, he ventures into Sri Lanka, a country only now emerging from twenty-six years of civil war. Beginning in the exuberant capital, Colombo, Gimlette ventures out in all directions: 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; then up into Kandy, the country’s eccentric, aristocratic Shangri-la. In the course of his journey, Gimlette meets farmers, war heroes, cricketers, terrorists, a former president, survivors of great massacres—and perhaps some of their perpetrators. That’s to say nothing of the island’s beguiling fauna: elephants, crocodiles, snakes, storks, and the greatest concentration of leopards on Earth. Here is a land of beauty and devastation, a place at once heavenly and hellish—all brought to vibrant, fascinating life here on the page.
Praise for Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka (Vintage Departures)
"It is hard to think of a more astute and sympathetic companion for a journey around the island and into Sri Lanka’s episodic bouts of madness. . . . He writes beautifully, all freshness and verve. And he is also very funny. . . . Mr. Gimlette is as astute as ever, and lyrical." --The Wall Street Journal
"Gimlette brings a brisk barrister-like inquisition to proceedings, allied with amiable good humour and a searching interest in the history of peoples and places. . . . Gimlette has assembled a splendidly eclectic cast of characters to illuminate this complicated nation . . . Rich in humour, full of insight and humanity, Elephant Complex is a very fine tribute to this enigmatic island nation." --The Spectator (UK)
"An intrepid journey to the famously reclusive island unearths a paradise amid trauma and obfuscation. . . . An exuberant, eye-opening travel quest." --Kirkus
"Gorgeous evocations of landscapes, sharp-eyed thumbnails of characters and eccentrics, and an endless font of amusing anecdotes drawn from [Gimlette's] own picaresque adventures and from the follies of royals and imperialists. . . . Gimlette’s blend of dry wit, entertaining reportage, and perceptive insights makes for another tour de force of travel writing and history, lushly green but edged in darkness." --Publishers Weekly