Not quite paradise

Barker tells of two trips to Sri Lanka: once on a teaching Fulbright, another on a kind-of reporting trip after the tsunami, "when the sea came to land." Great travel books tend to have one of two focuses: understanding a place, or the inner journey of the writer. Barker tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, to plot a middle course. She offers up bits of her personal pilgrimage (her discomfort at colonial legacies, a friendship with another Fulbright fellow, her son) without giving us enough biography to make the pieces compelling. On the other hand, especially in the second half of the book, she tends towards the superficial. She admits to being reticent to probe people about their tragedies -- but that sort of insensitive question is what reporters do. By not doing it, she can't reveal what these people actually think. In the second half, we hear a lot more from the expats than from Sri Lankans. So it seems much less authentic.returnreturnThe first half, on the other hand, brings Sri Lanka much more to life. It gives a good sense of life. I feel like I learned a lot about life there from this book, as well as background on the conflict in Sri Lanka.