The English Patient

Rating:
Summary: Better than the film
Review: My in laws took us to see the film when it played at the Rialto in South Pasadena. The cinematography was beautiful but the movie was missing substenance. It felt like someone had taken a wonderful story and shreaded it. A couple weeks after seeing the film I ran across a copy of the book at the Book House (an excellent used book shop if you're ever in South Pasadena). I bought the copy and read the book in one or two settings. I LOVED the book. The movie then came to life for me in my mind with the book filling in the details.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy the audio version
Review: I have amassed a rich collection of audio books and this is by far the worst. I bought it several years ago, started listening to it, and stopped halfway through. I just couldn't get into it. Recently, I tried to listen to it again, thinking maybe I missed something the first time around. It was just as bad. Whereas, with most audio books, the narration adds to the content of the book, in this one, it kills it. If you want to read this book, stick to the paperback version.

Rating:
Summary: What a talent.
Review: Wow. 300 pages of nothing. This book is certainly amazing. Everyone tells me the style of this book is breathtaking. Yea, it truly is. He has absolutely no writing ability whatsoever. The "imagery" and "description" that everyone rants about is pointless, boring, uninteresting, and rambling. There is zero structure to the novel, and to add insult to injury, this hapless book doesn't even lead you to anything. There's no plot. It's just a winding nonsense festival of shallow observations and condescending themes. If you would happen to like a book about 4 people living in a random villa TALKING for 300 pages, you'd love this book. For all others, avoid this book like the plague.

Rating:
Summary: problems
Review: I got this book for 25 cents in my library's basement and all I can say is I'm glad I didn't have to pay the retail price for it.

There isn't much I can say other than that the language gets in the way of the "story". Heck, I couldn't even find the story at times. I hate pretentious books and all the hype surround thing one just makes it worse. The only reason I gave it two stars is because the wording could be quite beautiful. Just not my kind of book.

Rating:
Summary: oooh...this is such a BEAUTIFUL book!
Review: I find it incredibly funny that so many people are gushing over this book. They must think they're supposed to like it because it won the Booker prize. *I* am ashamed of the fact that it's still on my shelf. I think I'm going to use it for toilet paper.

Rating:
Summary: "Lyrical" and significantly different than the popular movie
Review: "Lyrical" is a term that frequently came up in our book club's discussion of Ondaatje's poetic novel. Set in a Tuscan villa in 1944 as World War II dies down in Italy, this novel is significantly different than the popular movie a few years back. To begin, the often-dense prose style of Ondaatje-a poet and novelist who was born in India, educated in England and immigrated to Canada-does take some time to get used to.

The novel emerges as the four protagonists play out their drama in the ruined villa. They are Hana, the Canadian nurse; her patient who is burned beyond recognition; Caravaggio, a thief who knows Hana from before the war; and Kip, a young Sikh who spent the war disabling bombs for the British. All the characters have been damaged, physically and spiritually by the demands of war, but the real brilliance of the work may be the desert setting and the drama that unfolds as the English patient recounts his story spent mapping and exploring North Africa before the war.



Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book
Review: This book is amazing; it is lyrical, poetic, mysterious, complicated and thought-provoking. Those who have seen the movie only know the story at its surface level (although the movie is indeed fantastic). The book, more than just a romance, deals with themes of loyalty, patriotism, the nature of war, friendship, loneliness; and that's what I thought of off the top of my head.
This book deserves a close, slow reading. Its language should be savored, its characters pondered, and its themes analyzed. This isn't a beach read or a sappy romance; instead, it is an intelligent, beautiful book that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written But Memorable
Review: "The English Patient" by Michael Ondaatje is a fantastic book, a must read. Mysterious, fascinating, enthralling, Ondaatje deserves all the most laudatory adjectives. A heart-warming love story staged amidst a fascinating historical background, and spiced up with a touch of mystery (who is the English patient?), this novel is terrific. The film was also very good, but the book, as usual, is in my opinion better.