320 reviews for:

Anil's Ghost

Michael Ondaatje

3.52 AVERAGE

stormystewart's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

alecxia's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

nyom7's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

nicnels's review against another edition

3.0

tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

roxiefox4's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

pinkstar's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark informative slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

annie_reads_books's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

laurafd's review against another edition

2.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

filostray's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

gwalt118's review against another edition

2.0

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I wanted to like this book. I really really wanted to like it. I have long heard people rave about The English Patient (which I have never read, by the way) and when this book was assigned for a World Literature course I am taking, I was excited to read some Ondaatje. Oof. It was a struggle to get through this and, to be honest, if I wasn't required to read it for a class, I would have put it down about halfway through.

Random tangents, off-topic segments, and semi-stream of consciousness writing don't bother me if I feel like they have a purpose; alas, there were many instances in this book where I felt like these things had no real point. I am not sure how some of them contributed to the overall themes or plot of the story -- or if they even did.

Maybe I've missed some things. Maybe I should re-read it. But, I have a feeling that Ondaatje was trying so hard to write beautiful words that he lost his story somewhere along the way.

He has a new book coming out, and it's about my favorite time period - WWII - so maybe I'll give him another chance. Maybe.