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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
A sad and haunting story of the conflict that is still taking lives in Sri Lanka today.
"'I can never understand someone by his strengths. Nothing is revealed there. I can only understand people by their weaknesses.'"
A very complicated love letter to a country with deep rooted traditions and a very recent (current?) and brutal war.
A poetic thriller? Minus the "thriller" part that I was hoping to have more of? It was deeply and beautifully poetic, however.
Of course Ondaatje is brilliant, but may be a little *too* brilliant for the average reader. I am including myself in that categorization of "average readers". This was my first novel of his, so I don't have any point of comparison for tone and style, but I found Anil's Ghost to be extremely verbose and difficult to get through. I'm positive that there are many layers of metaphors and symbols that went right over my head.
Yet the characters have stayed with me. Sarath and his brother Gamini with their stubborn and egotistical love for one another. Anil with her stubborn determination and righteousness, unfortunately less well-rounded as a character than her male counterparts. Everyone with a complicated relationship to their home country and with such deep ties that it's not possible for them to disconnect from the trauma.
I was most interested in witnessing the characters' methods for coping in their respective environments and in the use of both scientific and traditional knowledge. That their use of traditional knowledge and respect for elders often depended upon each characters' level of connection to or rejection of Sri Lankan history and culture.
If my review was only about Ondaatje's ability to write skillfully, I would be giving this book 5/5. But based on the overall readability of the book and excitement of the plot, a reluctant 4/5.
I think I'll read this book again when I feel older and wiser.
A very complicated love letter to a country with deep rooted traditions and a very recent (current?) and brutal war.
A poetic thriller? Minus the "thriller" part that I was hoping to have more of? It was deeply and beautifully poetic, however.
Of course Ondaatje is brilliant, but may be a little *too* brilliant for the average reader. I am including myself in that categorization of "average readers". This was my first novel of his, so I don't have any point of comparison for tone and style, but I found Anil's Ghost to be extremely verbose and difficult to get through. I'm positive that there are many layers of metaphors and symbols that went right over my head.
Yet the characters have stayed with me. Sarath and his brother Gamini with their stubborn and egotistical love for one another. Anil with her stubborn determination and righteousness, unfortunately less well-rounded as a character than her male counterparts. Everyone with a complicated relationship to their home country and with such deep ties that it's not possible for them to disconnect from the trauma.
I was most interested in witnessing the characters' methods for coping in their respective environments and in the use of both scientific and traditional knowledge. That their use of traditional knowledge and respect for elders often depended upon each characters' level of connection to or rejection of Sri Lankan history and culture.
If my review was only about Ondaatje's ability to write skillfully, I would be giving this book 5/5. But based on the overall readability of the book and excitement of the plot, a reluctant 4/5.
I think I'll read this book again when I feel older and wiser.
This was a good book but not a book that I found entirely engaging. I read it somewhat half-heartedly.
I DID NOT enjoy this book. If I didn’t have to read it for class, I’m sure I would’ve DNFed it by the 50 page mark.
I found the writing to be very choppy and disjointed, and I don’t care if that was an artistic choice, it made it extremely hard for me to follow the story. There also seemed to be a lot of (unimportant) info dumping. I just couldn’t get myself to really care about the plot, nor most of the characters.
Anil was... bland. Her character was flat. She had little to no character arc. She was boring. I’m not sure if this is just a case of “men writing women,” cause it very well might be, but goodness gracious, I couldn’t care less about her.
Gamini and Sarath were leaps and bounds more interesting than she was, but even in Sarath’s character, I feel like we didn’t get much chance to know him. He was kind of mysterious in the beginning, and I feel like we never really got to know enough about him, unlike with Gamini, who got a whole section dedicated (basically) to his backstory.
The ending was... less than satisfying. It seemed rushed and, honestly, I feel like it was just blah (for lack of better words. I seriously do not know how to properly articulate how boring this book was).
I have to give the author credit for some absolutely beautifully written prose in certain parts of the novel. But even that was few and far between.
Overall, I think the story was just flat. The whole Sailor plot line was rushed to a conclusion and there was literally no character growth in majority of the characters. I don’t even know what I just read. It all felt pointless.
I found the writing to be very choppy and disjointed, and I don’t care if that was an artistic choice, it made it extremely hard for me to follow the story. There also seemed to be a lot of (unimportant) info dumping. I just couldn’t get myself to really care about the plot, nor most of the characters.
Anil was... bland. Her character was flat. She had little to no character arc. She was boring. I’m not sure if this is just a case of “men writing women,” cause it very well might be, but goodness gracious, I couldn’t care less about her.
Gamini and Sarath were leaps and bounds more interesting than she was, but even in Sarath’s character, I feel like we didn’t get much chance to know him. He was kind of mysterious in the beginning, and I feel like we never really got to know enough about him, unlike with Gamini, who got a whole section dedicated (basically) to his backstory.
The ending was... less than satisfying. It seemed rushed and, honestly, I feel like it was just blah (for lack of better words. I seriously do not know how to properly articulate how boring this book was).
I have to give the author credit for some absolutely beautifully written prose in certain parts of the novel. But even that was few and far between.
Overall, I think the story was just flat. The whole Sailor plot line was rushed to a conclusion and there was literally no character growth in majority of the characters. I don’t even know what I just read. It all felt pointless.
Three stars is more of an average rating because the book was a five star book in some places and a one star in others. I have had this experience with Michael Ondaatje's books before but there is something about his writing that keeps me coming back even though I expect some parts to be tedious.
An amazing piece of writing! An expatriate's journey back to her native land and of selfdiscovery. Anil returns to her birthplace after a long time under some very interesting circumstances. The experience she has and the sense of alienation she faces in a place that used to be home forces her to go through a change.
The time is in around 1980s. Sri-Lanka is ravaged by a civil war that is almost tearing the country apart. Anil navigates her way through her once-homeland during this desperate time to fulfill her mission and reconcile with her past life.
The time is in around 1980s. Sri-Lanka is ravaged by a civil war that is almost tearing the country apart. Anil navigates her way through her once-homeland during this desperate time to fulfill her mission and reconcile with her past life.
It's an okay book with the best saved for the last 50 pages. There was some interesting points but at times got lost in its own story
In another lifetime, I probably would have been a forensic anthropologist or scientist. If I had known I could study that before I went to uni. And didn't have a sense of smell. And didn't loose my temper when I think something is unfair. And maybe a bit smarter. If all these things were different, I would have become a forensic scientist.
I did what I dubbed a CSI semester at uni. I took 'Law and Social Control' as my Sociology course, 'Advanced Issues in Psychology: Forensic Psychology' as one of my Psych courses, and for my Arts elective (I had my major in Sociology for that degree (I have a BA and a BPsych) but viewed my Arts degree elective as "Do the most interesting thing you can find!") I took 'Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology'. (My other Psych course was so boring and mundane I can't even remember what it was, probably something cognitive or neurobiological. Piffle.). That semester was fantastic. Yes, I sobbed like a little girl while I was writing an essay on the issues with identification of bodies in mass graves in war zones. Yes, I spent a lot of time looking at decomposing bodies. But I got to dig up a "murder" site, and work out what had happened. I learnt how to find occupational markers on bones. There were far too many Yorrick jokes made in labs. It was awesome!
It kinda ties into my love of mysteries I guess. My relaxing zone out TV shows are detective shows, with my guilty pleasures of Bones and Silent Witness. So once I realised that Anil was a forensic scientist, I knew we were going to get along.
The book actually deals with the issues of recent Sri Lanka. The book was published in 2000, so rather contemporary. Sri Lanka has been in a state of civil war for a rather long time, with the Tamils, the Government and another group from the south (can't remember their names, so bad) fighting each other. However it's not soldiers fighting soldiers. This war has involved a lot of kidnapping, torture, maiming, murder and psychological warfare of the civilians of Sri Lanka. And that is by *every* side, which makes it all the more terrifying.
Anil is a Sri Lankan who has run away from Sri Lanka to go to university and then for her career (not because if this war) and this is her first time coming back to her home country. We have the story here of her feeling like a foreigner in her own country, unable to speak the language any more for example, then slowly morphing to embrace the country again. Subtle changes from talking about Sri Lankans as "you" to "us". The reason Anil has coming home is she is working for a human rights organisation and has been sent to investigate the killings of the civilians and to see who is doing the killings, particularly if the Government is involved.
We follow her and her archaeologist she has been assigned too, as well as a couple of other characters we meet along the way, through their investigation of a body. Both trying to work out who killed them, but importantly who the body was. All the while trying to hide their investigation away from the three groups who are possibilities and are more than happy to kill for a cover up.
The story is beautifully written. I got recommended this book by a friend, and another friend who is Sri Lankan recommended other books written by Michael Ondaatje, so it's great when you read a recommended book and author and they live up to the expectation. I will be definitely chasing up his other works.
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
I did what I dubbed a CSI semester at uni. I took 'Law and Social Control' as my Sociology course, 'Advanced Issues in Psychology: Forensic Psychology' as one of my Psych courses, and for my Arts elective (I had my major in Sociology for that degree (I have a BA and a BPsych) but viewed my Arts degree elective as "Do the most interesting thing you can find!") I took 'Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology'. (My other Psych course was so boring and mundane I can't even remember what it was, probably something cognitive or neurobiological. Piffle.). That semester was fantastic. Yes, I sobbed like a little girl while I was writing an essay on the issues with identification of bodies in mass graves in war zones. Yes, I spent a lot of time looking at decomposing bodies. But I got to dig up a "murder" site, and work out what had happened. I learnt how to find occupational markers on bones. There were far too many Yorrick jokes made in labs. It was awesome!
It kinda ties into my love of mysteries I guess. My relaxing zone out TV shows are detective shows, with my guilty pleasures of Bones and Silent Witness. So once I realised that Anil was a forensic scientist, I knew we were going to get along.
The book actually deals with the issues of recent Sri Lanka. The book was published in 2000, so rather contemporary. Sri Lanka has been in a state of civil war for a rather long time, with the Tamils, the Government and another group from the south (can't remember their names, so bad) fighting each other. However it's not soldiers fighting soldiers. This war has involved a lot of kidnapping, torture, maiming, murder and psychological warfare of the civilians of Sri Lanka. And that is by *every* side, which makes it all the more terrifying.
Anil is a Sri Lankan who has run away from Sri Lanka to go to university and then for her career (not because if this war) and this is her first time coming back to her home country. We have the story here of her feeling like a foreigner in her own country, unable to speak the language any more for example, then slowly morphing to embrace the country again. Subtle changes from talking about Sri Lankans as "you" to "us". The reason Anil has coming home is she is working for a human rights organisation and has been sent to investigate the killings of the civilians and to see who is doing the killings, particularly if the Government is involved.
We follow her and her archaeologist she has been assigned too, as well as a couple of other characters we meet along the way, through their investigation of a body. Both trying to work out who killed them, but importantly who the body was. All the while trying to hide their investigation away from the three groups who are possibilities and are more than happy to kill for a cover up.
The story is beautifully written. I got recommended this book by a friend, and another friend who is Sri Lankan recommended other books written by Michael Ondaatje, so it's great when you read a recommended book and author and they live up to the expectation. I will be definitely chasing up his other works.
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Torture
This book took me 10 years to read.
I started it, got halfway through, and then put it down. It's waited 10 years for me, and in some ways, it was worth the wait. In others, it left a lot to be desired.
Having spent a fair bit of time exploring Sri Lanka from 2008-2013, it was really interesting to read about places I know and have visited.
Overall, I found the book told a good story and really highlighted the horrors of the civil war Sri Lanka dealt with for far too long (and longer, even, than the publication of this book). I found it heartbreaking, poignant, and incredibly emotional at times.
But I also struggled to read this and follow the story. The points of view were disjointed, jumping from one character to the other, often with just a paragraph break between them. The difficulty in following the story, and really connecting with the characters with so little dialogue is what made this book, ultimately, a 3 star for me.
I started it, got halfway through, and then put it down. It's waited 10 years for me, and in some ways, it was worth the wait. In others, it left a lot to be desired.
Having spent a fair bit of time exploring Sri Lanka from 2008-2013, it was really interesting to read about places I know and have visited.
Overall, I found the book told a good story and really highlighted the horrors of the civil war Sri Lanka dealt with for far too long (and longer, even, than the publication of this book). I found it heartbreaking, poignant, and incredibly emotional at times.
But I also struggled to read this and follow the story. The points of view were disjointed, jumping from one character to the other, often with just a paragraph break between them. The difficulty in following the story, and really connecting with the characters with so little dialogue is what made this book, ultimately, a 3 star for me.