Rating: 
Summary: Poetic Brilliance
Review: Like many of the reviewers, I have read The English Patient over and over again almost compulsively. I have also watched the movie several times. Each time I read or watch the English Patient I discover something new and am usually stunned by its poetic brilliance. The English Patient should be read like a piece of poetry. The language is gorgeous and the author manages to make the two relationships in the novel romantic without being trite or cliched. Reality seems to pale in comparison to the mysterious evocation of the atmosphere in the novel. Real life seems drab compared to the the lives of those in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: The English Patient is inspired but erratic
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its beautifully told intertwining stories. Nonetheless, it does appears to be several stories loosely linked into a central narrative. Each of the stories is suberbly crafted and the writing is exceptional. But at times, I could not see the overall theme of the writer and where he thought it all fitted. It is almost like several short stories mixed together and then placing the characters togther at the end of the war as they sort out their lives. Despite this weakness, I loved the description of the desert and the trips through the wilderness. The love story is imaginatively told and the bomb decommissioning scenes are harrowing.
Rating:
Summary: let's compare it to the movie real fast
Review: There are two couples in the movie. In one, the woman is a dead witch, and the man is in a bed lying very still. In the other, the woman is a nurse whose boyfriends tend to die, and the other DEFUSES BOMBS!!! Which couple do you find more interesting? The movie focuses on the dead witch and the man lying in bed. The book gives them space, but focuses more on the other two lovers. You know, the ones who we care about a whole lot more and whose jobs are real interesting. Oh, and in case you haven't heard, Ondaatje is a weaver of words unchallenged in North America. Maybe South American authors (mostly dead) can give him a run for his Booker, but they aren't in the commonwealth, are they? This text is a gorgeous jewel. Check this one out and avoid that awful, boring, tedious, cowardly film. My theory on that unfortunate Oscar, everyone wanted to give this book the Oscar so they had to give it to the director of the movie. Peace out, and word to your mother.
Rating: 
Summary: "Oh, Mr Ondaatje, this book overwhelms me!"
Review: You know, in most books, the author has a certain TONE that comes through in the writing. In this book, the author seems to be saying to himself "I shall write random poetic [stuff] that those HUMANS will interpret as a modern masterpiece and WORSHIP me for! Heheheheh..." Seriously, this book is like a mix between David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive," Jhonen Vasquez's "Happy Noodle Boy" strips, and "Crossroads" (with Britney Spears!). It's really long, really random and really really corny. Have fun, and try not to traumatise Hana too much.
Rating:
Summary: I am in love with this book
Review: I didn't think anything could top the movie but this did. It is a pleasure to read and interesting to see the changes from the page to the screen...
Rating:
Summary: Homework
Review: If your are smart, don't read the book, there are enough reviews on the internet to use if you have to write a bookreview for your English teacher.
Rating:
Summary: Definately a Must Read
Review: This book is lovely and its tell in such a particular way I just can't describe. I love the characters, and the situations.
While I was not so interested about The English Patient's story, is thing whith Katharing adn the problem with Clifton, I just loved the love story between Hana and Kip. I swear I was this near to cry when he left the Villa.
The movie is lovely. It isn't better than the book, neither is it worse. It is just a great adaptations that captures the exact same spitir of the novel, which I saw AFTER reading, but puts everything in a magical visual way.
The only thing that I don't understand is how Ondaatje is pronounce.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing read
Review: This is one of my favorite books! Ondaatje writes beautifully, and is able to convey so much through just a few carefully chosen words. The characters in this book are very richly drawn. It is really a wonderful novel about the human condition. I just wish Ondaatje would write more often!!!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning
Review: No, I'm not talking about the movie--although it's not a bad watch AFTER reading the book. This is one of the best novels I've read in my life, including all those so-called "classics," not so much for the story, but for the prose. The prose is hauntingly beautiful, almost to the point of giving you goosebumps. It's totally compelling. At heart, the underlying story of "The English Patient" is not new. It's about an adulterous love affair that ends in tragedy. But of course, I don't think that's really the point of the book. There's a reason the novel is written in the present, with flashbacks to the past. The book explores how the characters, from different walks of life, react to the situation they find themselves in, from the traumatized nurse Hana to the stoic sapper Kip. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a great book to read. You'll feel good after you're done with it.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent imagery
Review: At the end of WWII, there is an eclectic group of people in a bombed-out Italian monastery - 20-year-old Canadian nurse Hana; a sappher Kip; and a maimed thief Caravvagio. They are tied together by the badly burned English patient whom Hana cares for when the other nurses leave, who tells them about a passionate tale of his romance before he reached his present state. This past romance intermingles with the present relationships to weave a wonderful and tragic story of life and love amid a beautiful setting in a damaged building. Beauty and damage is the stuff of life for these characters, and they realize it. Yet it somehow makes them all stronger and more alive as a result.
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