Books
by Michael Ondaatje
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Anil's Ghost |
Ondaatje is a poet as well as a novelist, so the writing is full of imagery. It's central theme concerns Anil Tissera, a forensic anthropologist working for a human rights organisation, and her mission to find the source of the campaigns of murder engulfing Sri Lanka. It's very dark, occasionally funny, sometimes obscure. It's a great read, though not perhaps at bedtime
(Jenny Baker - bwl 5 October 2000) |
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Running in the Family |
The words luscious and voluptuous are not misplaced when describing this book. In the hands of Ondaatje, memories of his Sri Lankan family turn into a mesmerising variant of the Mad Hatter's tea party. You will be transported to a time and place where exquisitely dressed couples dance to the tango in the jungle. You will read of drunken suicide attempts, and of a relative running naked through a train while waving a pistol. I loved it.
(Sharron Calkins - bwl 95 Winter 2019) |
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The Cat's Table |
In the early 1950s, eleven-year old Michael sails to England on a huge liner; relegated to the lowly 'Cat's Table', he and two other boys have endless adventures, spying on and trying to make sense of the astonishing behaviour of grown-ups. Moving between the actual voyage and his later life, Michael gradually realises that this time apart has influenced everything and everyone he touches. An absolute gem, one to savour and to read again.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 64 Spring 2012) |
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The English Patient |
This complex, seductive novel - set in Italy in WWII as the Germans retreated towards Rome leaving bombs and booby traps in their wake - is so much more than the love-story portrayed in the film. Yes, there is the badly burnt pilot but as important are the lives of his young Canadian nurse, the Sikh who she loves and the thief turned intelligence agent, Caravaggio. I thought it one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.
(James Baker - bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
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Warlight |
WW II is over, Nathaniel and Rachel abandoned by their parents are left in the care of a mysterious figure known as The Moth and his strange cohort of friends. Are they criminals or something else? What did they do in the war, and how was their mother involved? Years later Nathaniel determines to find out and uncovers a world of mist and shadows, half truths and evasions. Not as mesmerising as The English Patient (bwl 91) but beautifully written.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
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