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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Some parts were intriguing, but there were so many details and tangents thrown in that felt unnecessary.
This story was so beautifully written, but I feel like it wandered a little too much, and too inconsistently. Maybe because I struggled so much with the names of places and people, I found it hard to remember when he was referring back to an incident we had previously heard about, and when it was something entirely new. Despite this I still found the book very moving.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very depressing reading on many counts. First, the tragic theme addressing the totally avoidable loss of so many innocent lives over many years in Sri Lanka. The detailed forensic analysis and description of processes involved to recreate lives from excavated skeletons. The plodding pace halfway through, that reminds one of a Bollywood movie which, while engrossing, one wishes would get over and done with!
This is my fourth Ondaatje, and probably my least favorite. There have been better works written on the Sri Lankan civil war, and among Ondaatje’s own work Running in the family is definitely the superior Sri Lanka based work (also far less depressing!). All that aside, this is still Ondaatje - so the writing is damn pretty and the characters are memorable. Would recommend this if you already enjoy his work. But definitely not the novel to start exploring his work with.
I found this hard to follow and scattered. I finished the novel because I was interested in what would happen to Sailor, but... I was disappointed.
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The words are fancy but the story isn't very clear. Even if you are familiar with SriLankan places, it's still not enough to make this book make sense.
I love Ondaatje normally, but this book didn't capture me the way some of the others did. Most of his books have the threat of violence, but the abject violence of Sri Lanka is so direct that it's difficult to be subtle about it. The relationship between the brothers and the story of the painter were the highlights of the novel; ironically, it was the namesake of the book, Anil, with a seemingly irrelevant past and naive understanding of the politics of the situation, who detracted from it.
Not a good sign when it takes 3 months to finish a book. I can see why it should be a great book, but didn't work for me.