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A review by apurvanagpal
Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
3.0
Running in the Family is Michael Ondaatje’s memoir about his family history and birthplace.
After 25 years of moving to Canada, Ondaatje takes a trip back to his native Sri Lanka (Ceylon) to meet his parents’ close friends, acquaintances and extended family to get a glimpse of his ancestors life and culture. He takes us on an exquisite journey and shares with us his family history in little snippets and brief stories, drawing a lot from the visual beauty of the landscape into his account.
We learn about his passionate grandmother, his alcoholic father, their social circle in the 1930s and some treasured memories of their past. There are a couple pages about how his parents defined and looked at their marriage, before it fell apart, and it’s beautifully written!
I found myself a little confused because the chapters were quite small and the stories very fragmented but even in a nonfiction format , Ondaatje’s prose is so lyrical and makes you want more.
I give this one 3/5 and recommend The English Patient as an introduction to the author’s writing style!
It was one of my favourite reads of 2018 and I know it took me more than a year to get back to his works but I finally did!
After 25 years of moving to Canada, Ondaatje takes a trip back to his native Sri Lanka (Ceylon) to meet his parents’ close friends, acquaintances and extended family to get a glimpse of his ancestors life and culture. He takes us on an exquisite journey and shares with us his family history in little snippets and brief stories, drawing a lot from the visual beauty of the landscape into his account.
We learn about his passionate grandmother, his alcoholic father, their social circle in the 1930s and some treasured memories of their past. There are a couple pages about how his parents defined and looked at their marriage, before it fell apart, and it’s beautifully written!
I found myself a little confused because the chapters were quite small and the stories very fragmented but even in a nonfiction format , Ondaatje’s prose is so lyrical and makes you want more.
I give this one 3/5 and recommend The English Patient as an introduction to the author’s writing style!
It was one of my favourite reads of 2018 and I know it took me more than a year to get back to his works but I finally did!