Reviews

Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje

quizoola's review

emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

charlottekook's review against another edition

3.0

love the moving perspectives and the mix of different people's memories.

tommyhousworth's review

4.0

The story of Buddy Bolden is one that can only be cobbled together through myth and music. No recordings exist of his music, and there are so many tall tales about the man, no one can really say where the hyperbole ends and the real Buddy begins.

"Coming Through Slaughter" embraces this dilemma and rises above it, with a unique use of rather abstract language and phrasing - as well as shifting narrative - that are jarring at times, but ultimately work.

You don't have to love jazz to enjoy "Slaughter", but it does help.

the8th's review against another edition

2.0

This is a bad rating, because I probably need to read it again. And I will. Sometime.

frvncesco's review against another edition

4.0

Didn’t enjoy as much as Billy the kid but still really good. His life, like jazz, comes from the people around him and is full of bitter, intense emotion.

swagmansnake's review against another edition

4.0

Didn’t enjoy as much as Billy the kid but still really good. His life, like jazz, comes from the people around him and is full of bitter, intense emotion.

quintus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

wndrbread's review

3.0

3.5

Really interesting style of broken prose, whimsical and nonsensical at times.

pixie_d's review

4.0

I read this after reading another Ondaatje novel and finding out he had written one about a jazz musician. This one is a rather slim book, written in a poetic, "jazz improvisation" type style.

lindsayharmon's review

3.0

I've read all of Ondaatje's more recent books and loved them, so I decided to go back and read his early stuff. I definitely prefer his more recent novels, which, while not linear, seem more straightforward. This one follows the story of Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans jazz musician who had a nervous breakdown while performing in a parade and then was institutionalized and drifted into obscurity. The novel is made up of vignettes from the point of view of a variety of characters, as well as songs, poems, and (presumably fictional) interviews and other documents. As with all of Ondaatje's work, his use of language is amazing.