321 reviews for:

Anil's Ghost

Michael Ondaatje

3.52 AVERAGE

ronjalex's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

a_a_k_ash's review against another edition

3.5

informative sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

_robmurphy_'s review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

---

Strangely detached narrative voice which leaves you feeling there is something missing, some warmth perhaps. Yet this absence feels entirely appropriate in the context of such horror. 

dagnygranger's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, War

mmetzdorf's review against another edition

2.0

---

just didn't do it for me

riley_reeves's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark reflective 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: No

---

A great read but towards the end it became clear that who I thought was a strong female protagonist was actually basically nothing more than a lens with which to view the two focal brothers of the story, which was disappointing.  

reading_w_dee's review against another edition

3.0

challenging emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

hellowormemoji's review against another edition

3.75

---

this is really hard to rate. 

the first half is an absolute snooze. every line feels cliche, dialogue feels stilted, anil is poorly rendered and without much inner life.

at around the 70% mark, ondaatje finally slips into the kind of rhythm he does best. It's what i loved about coming through slaughter: the quickness of thought, collapsing of scenes into traces, parataxis that doesn't feel clinical but actually reflects how human consciousness experiences history in the present. though the final scene was unsatisfying, the prose and emotional depth of the last 30% of the book was just so striking and exactly what i love about ondaatje's work usually.

would i recommend this? i don't know. i don't find that it does a particularly good job rendering sri lanka as a place, moreso solely as a zone of conflict. i don't find anil interesting in herself, though there are some moments that stick with me. the book's structure, with these odd named sections, didn't make much sense. STILL i'm always moved by this very ondaatje rhythm of writing, and for that, i can't rate this book lower than i have. 

justwingit03's review

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

sarahbr's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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: Complicated