Reviews

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

book_concierge's review against another edition

2.0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

nikki_in_niagara's review against another edition

2.0

Set during the last months of the war in Italy. A nurse stays at a villa with a burn patient and feels she loves him. Two more men eventually stay there as well and she loves both of them also. The burn victim doesn't know who he is but we get a rundown on his past during installments.

I didn't like this at all. It's not a bad book; it's just not for me. I thought the love story was boring and I am all read out of WWII books, I just felt like not much happened and when it did it was dull. A modern Canadian classic though. 

milliemitchell's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

emmakowalski's review against another edition

3.0

It took me almost a month to finish this book and I've read several books in between. Must be because every now and then I have to look up unfamiliar words, stories, phrases, and other references (not that i am complaining, it's a learning experience), or it must be because bombs and deserts are not familiar residents in my imagination, or perhaps of its pace and the kind of messy insertion of time among other number of reasons which i forgot because well as ive said it has been a month. lol. This book was not written for me, maybe when im forty i will understand. For all it's distance from me, this book at least gave me lines that will stay in my mind in moments of introspection. A solid 3