Reviews

My book club chose this book at the time the movie was coming out and there was a lot of hype about the film. We were very disappointed. It was a drudge to get through, and if it hadn't been a book club selection I would not have finished it.
I found it a very hard book to read ... full of allegory and ancient literary references. I don't mind a challenge but I felt the author was just going nowhere. I struggled and by the time book club met I was barely at the midpoint, but after the discussion I did persevere and enjoyed the second half of the book more. Still, I don't recommend it.

_kieralou's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a really enjoyable read, and the narrative jumps between the past and the present and different perspectives made it really interesting to find everything out as it unfolded.

ceri_sho's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

drdreuh's review against another edition

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5.0

(5) I loved The English Patient until the end, where now I can't quite figure out what happened. It's a wonderful mix of espionage, adventure, intrigue, love, a little science and not a small amount of mental anguish - all taking place in a period of time (end of WWII) and location (North Africa and Italy) that is new-ish to me.

Its part fun and part irritating to search through chapters for the first instances of this character (Katherine, Almasy) or that character (Caravaggio). And can any character's reporting be trusted?

A bit dissatisfying until I poured through anew with special attention to the years 1939 and 1942. It seems I had gotten so swept up in Ondaatje's lyricism that I had lost my sense of time. But even that yearning for more (clarity, mostly) was delightful.

Lines I loved:
"She was secure in the miniature world she had built; ..."
"We are deformed by nation-states."
"I had reached the stage in life where I identified with cynical villains in a book."
"She had always wanted words, she loved them, grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape. Whereas I thought words bent emotions like sticks in water."
"People recover from secret loss variously."
"The war had made all the cities and towns similar."

snutedute's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

didge24_09's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

katiebeth80's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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