Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Very engaging, a wide array of interesting secondary characters set against some strong, emotionally complex main ones with the lead narrator leading us through the story's start in his native Sri Lanka, his life affecting experiences on the voyage to his new home in England. Its hard not to miss the imagery of the sea voyage and the parallel voyage of the young boy into early adulthood, the author takes this a step further by jumping forward at times to more recent history in the narrator's life as he and his shipboard friends grapple with life still carrying baggage from their childhood adventures at sea. This is my second book by this author, The English Patient being the other, a book I also found quite good, its plain I will be reading some of his other works
Ondaatje at his best is exquisite. That set the bar really high for this. I'm not even rating this on the same scale as I rate the genre fiction that I read. I'm giving it three stars because in some ways it did not deliver on the promise of the first half of the book. The second half just felt uncomfortable and a little too spacious to me, some threads just hanging for two loosely. Perhaps ultimately the adult vantage point of the narrator is simply not as delicious as the remembered journey of his childhood. And that's fair. Mostly our lives now are not as strangely magical as the lives left behind us in our youth when everything was new. But the expression of present time simply did not measure up to the section set in the past - which is gorgeously rendered. Was that purposeful? Perhaps. Nonetheless, I left feeling empty and missing the ship time. I think that's enough said.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There's such a lovely, sepia-toned feel to the writing, I thought the book was set in the early 20th century until almost half-way through, when it was mentioned in the course of the story that it was the 1950's. What an amazing movie this would make - although being published in 2011, I suppose that ship has sailed (as it were).
I think this is just the perfect book. Brisk and charming and transportive.
this book felt uneven to me. maybe becuase the narrator was a bit dull. some parts are lovely and mysterious.