The English Patient

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Summary: An intricate blend of romanticism and poetry...
Review: This book was profound - I have never been so touched by mere words in this way. Ondaatje has command of the English language like a pilot has of his B-2 Bomber. I would recommend this book to anyone who's a die-hard romantic. Make sure you have some peace and quiet and some time before you sit down to read. It's definitely worth the effort. ([e-mail])

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Summary: I wish to give it no stars at all. Such a BORE!
Review: After all the great reviews that this book received I had high expectations when I began reading it. It wasn't long before I was greatly disappointed.

I soon discovered what a boring book it is. I just couldn't bring myself to finish it.

This is probably one of the few stories that make better movies than books.

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Summary: Words have power.
Review: I have never been to deserts. But Michael made me love them, and he told a story about Herodotus, the man who wrote histories, the man that you might never forget. If you hold an emotion in the heart, read this book, and you would read nothing any more.

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Summary: Not as involving as the film
Review: Though it is a literary masterpiece, this novel is somewhat disconcerting and hard to follow at times. The plot is unprecedented, but it is hard to be pulled into the character's lives.

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Summary: Dream-like, poetic, and drifting.
Review: I read and re-read "The English Patient" several times...and in different places. In my garden, on a ship at sea, and lastly, by the shore of a quiet lake in the northern part of my state. Each time I found a new relationship with the characters that I had not realized before. At first I focused on The English Patient as the book seemed to revolve around "his" story. Somehow I did not pity him though. He made the mistake of loving another man's wife. His punishment was dying, helpless and alone with her inside his mind's eye. Katherine, easily dismissed and important in that her being caused The English Patient to begin his journey towards his fate. Hana seemed the most human. She was so strong but determined in a strange way to live with a dying man and ease his pain. Kip was Asian and had a code of honor which the author tried to show us in fragments. He was a mystery. But that is what the author wanted, I believe. The torture victim Caravaggio was interesting. In fact, each character was a victim of torture - either the sad result at another's hands or self-inflicted which can be the most miserable. This is a story that will linger with you long after you have put the book away.

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Summary: A Masterpiece! By a brilliant Poet!
Review: "There is God only in the Desert..." Anyone who has been to Saharah and felt the Ham-sin winds strangling you and forbidding you to breathe inn-can fully appretiate the wonderful description of the desert. "Love is so small, it can tear itself through the eye of a needle..." Anyone who has loved,and felt how the Greedy Love feeds on your soul,can identify himself with afflictions of Hana & Kip and Kathrine & Almasy.A certain pattern to the juxtoposition of these two couples exists. "They would never have dropped such a bomb on a white nation..." Anyone who is awared of the Hiroshima Millitaristic disaster, can see the paradox in the present "Harmony" between Japanese and U.S.& Europeans.Forgive?Forget? How can you forget the presence of an enemy ? The title - while Almasy is not English at all- reveals the essence of the novel-Identity and Perception of Identity.People from different cultures are either united of separated by the ethnical aspects.Ondaatje masterly and philosophically approaches the relevance of the terms "Good & Evil","Right & Wrong","Love & Betrayal",and most of all- Personal Judjement and Justice. Although many critics comment differently, Almasy IS the main character.The paradox of a filthy traitor possessing no repentance represented as the "Hero" of the novel- roflects the natural unconfessed contradictions of qualities in all of us. O. represents Unfortunate Love,Cruelty,Betrayal & Hypocrisy in all their naked truth. Some critics severely censure the end of the novel.A more powerful one, however,could not be created."Children are learning what happened",but, ironically,today-Japaneese boys' T-shirts labeled Chicago Bulls hint at present "Harmony" between the two Nations. Never loosing its meaning from the first word to the last-"The English Patient" shall tempt you to become familiar with the rest of Ondaatje's exquisite works.

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Summary: the author dragged on about irrelevent subjects
Review: I thought that the book was too long. The author could have definately made his point in much fewer words. Much of the subject matter I found gratuitous and irrelevent.

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Summary: Watch the Movie and Don't Read the Book... Trust Me!
Review: I started this book with great expectations only to be greatly dissapointed! I fell asleep reading this book repeatedly.

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Summary: Beautiful Language & Haunting Characters
Review: I amazed by the amateur "critics" who have written reviews of this book. Did they fail to see the lyric language and full, beautiful characters? If every novel was written with immaculate historical content, it would be non-fiction; perhaps people should review the definitions of fiction and literature so that they might appreciate this book (and the author!) for the beauty and brilliance they capture.

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Summary: The best book of the last 25 years
Review: I haven't read anything better. To dwell on the historical inaccuracies is to miss the point (I'm something of an amateur military historian, but I was enjoying everything too much to let them ruffle my feathers). The writing is beautiful, lyrical and evocative. I spent several months reading and re-reading it, enjoying the imagry and the characters. The only problem is the ending, which is both abrupt and seemingly somewhat at odds with the rest of the narrative. Kip is a relatively minor character for most of the novel, and it is a mistake to center the ending on him. Fortunately the movie, which is excellent, avoids this faux pas. That aside, I can't recommend it highly enough.