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rebeccaariss 's review for:
Anil's Ghost
by Michael Ondaatje
"'I can never understand someone by his strengths. Nothing is revealed there. I can only understand people by their weaknesses.'"
A very complicated love letter to a country with deep rooted traditions and a very recent (current?) and brutal war.
A poetic thriller? Minus the "thriller" part that I was hoping to have more of? It was deeply and beautifully poetic, however.
Of course Ondaatje is brilliant, but may be a little *too* brilliant for the average reader. I am including myself in that categorization of "average readers". This was my first novel of his, so I don't have any point of comparison for tone and style, but I found Anil's Ghost to be extremely verbose and difficult to get through. I'm positive that there are many layers of metaphors and symbols that went right over my head.
Yet the characters have stayed with me. Sarath and his brother Gamini with their stubborn and egotistical love for one another. Anil with her stubborn determination and righteousness, unfortunately less well-rounded as a character than her male counterparts. Everyone with a complicated relationship to their home country and with such deep ties that it's not possible for them to disconnect from the trauma.
I was most interested in witnessing the characters' methods for coping in their respective environments and in the use of both scientific and traditional knowledge. That their use of traditional knowledge and respect for elders often depended upon each characters' level of connection to or rejection of Sri Lankan history and culture.
If my review was only about Ondaatje's ability to write skillfully, I would be giving this book 5/5. But based on the overall readability of the book and excitement of the plot, a reluctant 4/5.
I think I'll read this book again when I feel older and wiser.
A very complicated love letter to a country with deep rooted traditions and a very recent (current?) and brutal war.
A poetic thriller? Minus the "thriller" part that I was hoping to have more of? It was deeply and beautifully poetic, however.
Of course Ondaatje is brilliant, but may be a little *too* brilliant for the average reader. I am including myself in that categorization of "average readers". This was my first novel of his, so I don't have any point of comparison for tone and style, but I found Anil's Ghost to be extremely verbose and difficult to get through. I'm positive that there are many layers of metaphors and symbols that went right over my head.
Yet the characters have stayed with me. Sarath and his brother Gamini with their stubborn and egotistical love for one another. Anil with her stubborn determination and righteousness, unfortunately less well-rounded as a character than her male counterparts. Everyone with a complicated relationship to their home country and with such deep ties that it's not possible for them to disconnect from the trauma.
I was most interested in witnessing the characters' methods for coping in their respective environments and in the use of both scientific and traditional knowledge. That their use of traditional knowledge and respect for elders often depended upon each characters' level of connection to or rejection of Sri Lankan history and culture.
If my review was only about Ondaatje's ability to write skillfully, I would be giving this book 5/5. But based on the overall readability of the book and excitement of the plot, a reluctant 4/5.
I think I'll read this book again when I feel older and wiser.