Book Review

Suspension at its height

Title : Danduvama Luhu Banda
Author : Senaratne Weerasinghe
Pages : 203
Publication : Prabha Publications

With 85 novels and 19 plays to her name, Agatha Christie is one of the most celebrated writers of our times. Her books have been translated to over 44 languages and are the fastest selling books after the Bible and William Shakespeare’s works.

With ‘And Then There Were None’ Christie has a special manner in which she can get under the reader’s skin and make them look over their shoulder with suspense. Translator Senaratne Weerasinghe has maintained this quality in his book ‘Danduvama Luhu Banda’. This is a feature which is attributed to all good psychological murder mysteries and many fail in this aspect at times. Not Christie and nor does Weerasinghe’s translation. The readers will be taken on a thrilling ride which gives them the chills.

Snuggle under your covers and let the mystery envelop you. You will not fail to find yourself eagerly turning the pages and anticipating a thrilling end. The story keeps you guessing. Much like a jigsaw puzzle all the pieces come together in the end and only then would you able to see the clear picture.

The action begins with 10 strangers journeying to spend time in Indian Island. They are all there because of a mysterious invitation, carefully worded to them on paper. They have no clue as to what or who awaits them there. The island may or may not belong to an actress and there are rumours of wild goings at the property.

On their arrival the visitors are surprised to learn that the hostess is not present but when an eerie recording is turned on at dinner announcing crimes that each o them has purportedly committed, death lurks nearby. With each member disappearing from the picture, the panic-stricken individuals each realize that they have been lured to a web in which each has to pay for their past sins. The scary part is the fact that the executioner is among them and is actually one of them!

The concept of the story is simple yet the plot is difficult to execute. However Christie has carried away the incidents superbly and so has Weerasinghe. Penned in a simple language, the translation is not difficult to grasp.

You do not need to wrack your brain finding meaning to a word or going back to the English original for Weerasinghe had done justice to his book. The book follows some of his other successful translations like the ‘Good Earth’ series and the ‘Robin of Sherwood’ series. Having translated works of many others of diverse genres, from all parts of the globe and from different backgrounds, Weerasinghe knows his stuff.

He had set works of some of the most globally-acclaimed writers like Kamala Das, Rabindranath Tagor, Maxim Gorky, Richard Carpenter, Sarachchandra Chatterji, James Hadley Chase, Perl S Buck and many others on print in Sinhala.

Getting back to Christie’s novel, one gets a strong suspicion on who the killer is but the spine-tingling journey is worthwhile. The manner in which the killer is revealed did leave something to be desired, but the beauty of what Christie accomplished with this one still remains intact and is definitely worth a read.

Ruwini Jayawardana