Book Review : The English Patient // Michael Ondaatje

Synopsis :

With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of passion, betrayal, and rescue illuminate this book like flashes of heat lightning.

Rate : 4.5 / 5 ⭐

Review :

❝She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots that stretched back twenty years, her body full of sentences and moments, as if awakening from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams.❞ 

- Michael Ondaatje

This is a book based during the Second World War and me being a huge fan of world war related stories just had to get it. Plus point was that it was written by a Sri Lankan author.

The story revolves around four characters, three of whom due to circumstances come to live with the fourth character, the English patient. This book is more character driven than lot driven and at first I was a bit unsure about the whole thing as I was trying to figure out the plot but then I realised its more about learning about the English patient's past and how he came to be. And also about learning how the other three characters, Hana, Kip and Caravaggio, evolve throughout the time period spent with the English patient.

The writing is very smooth and in certain occasions almost poetic. I really enjoy this kind of writing and I am definitely going to read his other works because of this.

The style of story is a bit different because it doesn't specifically differentiate between the time periods or the POVs so it might be difficult to get into at first but after that it gets better. I sorta was used to this style because I read another book called 'Chinaman' which uses this and strangely enough it was also written by a Sri Lankan author.

One of my other favourite point i this book is that it talks about different countries and different nationalities. Basically it is very diverse. You have Hana from Canada, Kip from India and Caravaggio who goes from country to country as he is a professional thief. And the story takes place in Italy. Oh and you also have the English patient who recounts his travels in Egypt.

All in all I would definitely recommend this book and I now have a new favourite auto buy author 😀

With Love, 

credits :

pictures are mine

synopsis is from goodreads