Reading the World discussion

Please share your thoughts on our June 2019 BOTM.

Michael Ondaatje: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael...

He is the author of 7 novels.

1976 - Coming Through Slaughter
1987 - In the Skin of a Lion
1992 - The English Patient
2000 -- Anil's Ghost
2007 - Divisadero
2011 - The Cat's Table
2018 - Warlight

Have you read any of his novels? This was my third. I have also read The English Patient and Warlight.

A reading from the book, by the author.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOFa6...

And a professor's discussion of trauma in the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6FNq...

I listened to the youtube of Michael Ondaatje and it was amazing. His voice gives it a poetry which my mental voice or reading aloud could never give it.

I have read In the Skin of the Lion. It is set in Toronto, where I live, but in a different time period. I enjoyed the history and the local colour.

I have read Warlight and The English Patient also. I own The Skin of a Lion but have not read it. I did not know it is based in Toronto. That will move it further up on the TBR pile as I love that city.

Gail wrote: "I listened to the youtube of Michael Ondaatje and it was amazing. His voice gives it a poetry which my mental voice or reading aloud could never give it."

I know. Me too. Glad you liked it.

Rosemarie wrote: "I have read In the Skin of the Lion. It is set in Toronto, where I live, but in a different time period. I enjoyed the history and the local colour."

I will have to check it out some time.

I have finished reading Anil’s Ghost and although the story did not adhere for me as well as The English Patient, I very much enjoyed reading it. The main character, the forensic physician who named herself Anil, investigates not only the history of a skeleton that appears to be recently dead where only ancient skeletons should be but also her own emotional bonds with past lovers, her best girl friend and her native country Sri Lanka which has been torn apart by a three part civil war for decades. The northern Tamil separatists fight the government, the southern Sinhalese fight the government and the separatists and the government fights all. During this horrible civil war, many bodies simply went missing, a doctor is kidnapped to work day and night to save the lives of teenage soldiers maimed by bombs and a young wife who works at a school sees the heads of the students on spikes on her way to work. It is a savage and horrific war. In this environment we see Anil who works for a UN sponsored humanitarian organization attempt to make one murder case that will stand up against the government. “One victim can speak for many victims”. The story is written largely from Anil’s perspective but everyone we meet is richly drawn if only for a few moments on the page. Ondaatje’s poetic writing and personal insights are stunning and if the plot is less than crystal clear and the insights into the whole of Sri Lanka are foggy, I forgive him because of the personal touch....”One victim can speak for many victims”.

Gail wrote: "I have finished reading Anil’s Ghost and although the story did not adhere for me as well as The English Patient, I very much enjoyed reading it. The main character, the forensic physician who name..."

I really enjoyed your comments. This one is not sticking with me the way his others have. But, I agree he makes his point beautifully.

I also read The Story of a Brief Marriage about Sri Lanka's civil war. This is a much shorter book without the poetic fluidity of Odaatje's book. The first time author comes from the point of view of being Tamil, the northern minority in Sri Lanka. The "movement" (in Ondaatje's book they are called the Tamil separatists or the rebels) is fleeing government forces and forcing the civilians to evacuate with them. Our narrator and main character is fleeing both the government and the movement as he does not want to be recruited into fighting. The whole book takes place over only one day and one night and the narrator's focus is so constrained by his circumstances that we participate with him in the most meager acts of being human; to bleed, to defecate, to touch, to cry, to breath. It is a powerful story in a strange way.

Gail wrote: "I also read The Story of a Brief Marriage about Sri Lanka's civil war. This is a much shorter book without the poetic fluidity of Odaatje's book. The first time author comes from th..."

Thanks Gail. I am going to add this to my impossibly long list! :)

Gail, without your insights into the book, I would probably give up. Thank you because I now will try to finish!!