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ebiekay's review
4.0
It's weird when prose is better than plot, but I can get behind that sometimes.
emma_reads_a_lot's review
Wow. This is dark and gritty and disgusting and all sorts of other things and I adore it. I feel like this is the kind of book I could read over and over again and still find new things to love about it. My only downside would be that it’s rather graphic, but I’d be happy to lend it to anybody because it’s one of my favorite things I’ve read this year.
stupidpieceofhuman's review against another edition
4.0
it's been a long time that i've read a book of experimental narrative. though, at first, it was a bit difficult to go through or comprehend what is going on, but later it becomes easy. this is the first ondaatje novel i have read, and i liked it. previously, i was a huge fan of his poetry (i still am), but i have to read more of his novels to get into the skin of him writing a novel. it was a hilarious, poignant, yet poetic experience to read this novella. i felt the trace of his poetic skills here and there in the novel, and boy, did it deliver! but, i believe, when one is writing a novel, one should stick to one genre, primarily, if they can't make a proper balance. the poetry in it is very frequent. as it was his debut novel, so it can be excused. overall, it was a nice experience.
readybyian's review against another edition
4.0
“The heat has fallen back into the lake and left air empty. You can smell trees across the bay. I notice tonight someone has moved in over there. One square of light came on at twilight and changed the gentle shape of the tree line, making the horizon invisible. Was annoyed till I admitted to myself I had been lonely and this comforted me. The rest of the world is in that cabin room behind the light. Everyone I know lives there and when the light is on it means they are there.”
There were points in this book when I hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. It didn't matter though, Ondaatje's prose is mesmerizing in the most beautiful way. He immersed me in the jazz parlours of turn-of-the-century New Orleans. The novel concerns a jazz musician - named Buddy Bolden - and his descent into madness. As the book progresses, chapters become fragmented, perspectives change with every paragraph, tenses are combined, language evolves and decays along with Bolden's mind. The structure is innovative and leaves you with whiplash. You're taken into this man's mind as it fractures, as delusions and hallucinations tear away at his sanity.
At first, Buddy is conscious of his impending demise. The scenes where he reminisces about those he has loved and the joy his music brings him are heartbreaking. Ondaatje can capture quiet moments with palpable candour. As Buddy's mind withers, the rhythmic escalations of anger and resentment ebb and flow as erratically as the songs he plays. When Buddy no longer recognizes himself, the cacophony of noises in his head reaches a deafening and violent climax. He's coming through the slaughtering of his own mind.
This book is a whirlwind. I enjoy it when authors play with structure and reconstruct traditional notions of what a novel can be. The book is infused with poetry, sporadic scenes of alliteration, interview transcripts, and timetables. Each page brings something new and exciting. As Ondaatje writes, it's as if "we are animals meeting an unknown breed ... swimming towards the sound of madness."
There were points in this book when I hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. It didn't matter though, Ondaatje's prose is mesmerizing in the most beautiful way. He immersed me in the jazz parlours of turn-of-the-century New Orleans. The novel concerns a jazz musician - named Buddy Bolden - and his descent into madness. As the book progresses, chapters become fragmented, perspectives change with every paragraph, tenses are combined, language evolves and decays along with Bolden's mind. The structure is innovative and leaves you with whiplash. You're taken into this man's mind as it fractures, as delusions and hallucinations tear away at his sanity.
At first, Buddy is conscious of his impending demise. The scenes where he reminisces about those he has loved and the joy his music brings him are heartbreaking. Ondaatje can capture quiet moments with palpable candour. As Buddy's mind withers, the rhythmic escalations of anger and resentment ebb and flow as erratically as the songs he plays. When Buddy no longer recognizes himself, the cacophony of noises in his head reaches a deafening and violent climax. He's coming through the slaughtering of his own mind.
This book is a whirlwind. I enjoy it when authors play with structure and reconstruct traditional notions of what a novel can be. The book is infused with poetry, sporadic scenes of alliteration, interview transcripts, and timetables. Each page brings something new and exciting. As Ondaatje writes, it's as if "we are animals meeting an unknown breed ... swimming towards the sound of madness."
bethaniel's review
5.0
i feel like i didn't just read this, i lived it. ondaatje's images are so potent and vivid. the prose was gorgeous, the voice was interesting, and the characters all felt very real... i loved this.
nojiri23's review
5.0
One of my favorite books ever. It is one of the few books that when I recommend it, the person to whom I've recommended it almost always reads it ... and almost always loves it. A bit dark, very interesting, and one of the best books exploring jazz, both through topic and literary style.
booksaremyjam's review
2.0
A gritty tale of New Orleans in the early 1900s, written in the funky, choppy, almost jazzy dialect I would expect men like Bolden to think in.
But I didn't care.
I found the style, though clever, to ultimately be distracting and detracting. I found the story in too much of a disarray, though I'm pretty sure that was the point. Maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind for a book as daring as this, or maybe my mind isn't wired artsily enough, or maybe the book actually wasn't that good. We'll never know.
But I didn't care.
I found the style, though clever, to ultimately be distracting and detracting. I found the story in too much of a disarray, though I'm pretty sure that was the point. Maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind for a book as daring as this, or maybe my mind isn't wired artsily enough, or maybe the book actually wasn't that good. We'll never know.