Rating: 
Summary: Ghost Hunting proves Difficult
Review: This book cries out for a movie, for somewhere inside lurks a wonderful story - I'm sure. Try as I may though (and I didn't try very hard as Anil's Ghost often sat unopened on my bedside table for days on end), I just could not follow the story closely enough. I may just read it again for I feel Michael's latest work did not get the attention from me that it deserved. But was this entirely my fault? You will have to decide.
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Summary: Eli's Anil analysis
Review: Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje did an excellent job of combining the personal trials of Anil, a Western-educated archeologist, with the political atrocities of Sri Lanka during its civil war. I think the book may leave out important details about the Sri Lankan culture that would help the reader understand the reasons for the violence and the purpose of the war, yet the book did an effective job of bringing the reader on a journey of discovery. It is hard not to get involved in the mystery of this book.
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Summary: A tremendous poetic novel
Review: Although there are many reviews of "Anil's Ghost" already posted, I felt compelled to write another on the grounds that many reviewers appear to have not fully appreciated Ondaatje's goals in this book. I share the opinion of some of the other readers, that this is Ondaatje's best work to date. In my case I'll go farther and say this is the best novel I've read in several years. Some people seem to be finding the book dull, and it is certainly not standard best-seller fare. It is subtle, allusive, and not driven by plot. Although it concerns the civil war in Sri Lanka, it is not *about* it. Although it concerns the search of a forensic anthropologist for the origin of a possibly-murdered skeleton it is not about that either. Readers who approach the novel as mystery are bound for disappointment, because this is not a novel of revelation, but one of concealment. It would perhaps be best to consider "Anil's Ghost" as a poetic meditation on the nature and search for truth. As it examines truth from many angles, it comes to no pat conclusions, which may also be troubling for some readers. Instead it uses the compelling characters and dramatic structure to illustrate the complexity of truth, while not absolving us of the duty of searching for it. The specific setting is necessary for the development of the themes, which are, nonetheless, universal. The prose is perhaps not as intensely beautiful as that of "The English Patient," but that is appropriate for the subject matter. Ondaatje has written a story of torture and murder which is neither thoroughly dark, nor simplistically heroic. Instead he gives us a multilayered truth in which the deepest darkness still allows a space for hope. It is a subtle, brilliant, stunning book.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow, Slow, Slow, and did I mention, Slow!
Review: I couldn't get pass the first 70 pages. The book is so dark and dreary that the story doesn't really moving fast enough. There are too many mysteries that don't really make sense. I really tried to stick with it to see if it would go any where because I like the author's previous work, but I just lost my patience. It seems like the only thing going on Anil is wandering around the jungles of Sri Lanka with some shady guy. This book lacks pace and a point. Save your money!
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Summary: his best yet
Review: if you like Ondaatje's poetry, and miss it, this will definitely impress you. his best novel yet, and the closest he's gotten to his poetic roots.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Subtle Storytelling
Review: Michael Ondaatje has given us a beautiful novel, a moving story told in a novel way. Anil's Ghost is not a typical novel and is thus not for every reader. The story is not told in a linear fashion, but rather Ondaatje meanders around the facts, circles around the truth. Anil Tissera returns to Sri Lanka after and 18 year absence as a forensic anthropologist on a fact-finding mission. She is paired with Sarath Diyasena, a man several years her senior who has never left. Together, they discover a government coverup of a murder from the skeletal remains of a man they nickname "Sailor". That is what happens in the novel, but that is certainly not the whole of it. As we read the novel, we learn about Anil, Sarath, Sarath's brother and their intertwined relationships. What really is Anil's Ghost? Is it the ghost of sailor, the ghost of Anil's life, the ghost of Sri Lanka, or is it all of those things. Ondaatje message is that the truth can never really be found, that stories of terrible atrocities don't have a clear cut beginning and end, just as Anil's Ghost has no such beginning and no such end. I really enjoyed this book immensely, but, as is apparent from reading other reviews at this site, it is clearly not for everyone. It reminded me a lot of Mrs. Dalloway, but with a much more tragic overlaying layer. If you have no fear of an unconventional novel, if you don't need a linear story, this is a novel for you.
Rating:
Summary: Killing fields, 2 brothers, 1 suiside, 2 divorces and more !
Review: A very enjoyable book. The first half of the novel feels like a fast paced adventure, indeed a chase atmosphere, with an obvious main character, Anil. The second half of the book is much more convoluted and slow. You gradually give up on the chase and the action and get much more interested in new emerging main characters. Perhaps the author's way of moving us from the fast paced life style and ways of North America to the slow meandering ways of Sri Lanka.I found Anil, to be the least interesting and believable of the main characters in the book. Somehow, despite of her fascinating background, her line of work, the stories of her marriage, love affairs with a married man and a lesbian woman, she comes across shallow and empty. She is just there with all of these things happening to her and around her. Yet, this is a woman, who as a child changed her own name, was a champion swimmer and have survived many losses and kept on going in search of the identity of a ghost against strong odds. With Anil you are left with a strong image of a drifter, but then you see very determined acts that don't conform at all to the drifter image. Perhaps this contradiction is part of the genius of this book. The story of the two brothers, which dominate much of the second half of the book, is very nicely told. The images of the Sri Lankan countryside, hospitals, and civil war are very vivid. Several other minor characters come into play, they offer very limited enhancement to the overall novel and at times feel like a short story interjected in the middle of this book. The story of the famous physician who was kidnapped by the rebels and somehow settled happily into his new life was fascinating but I am not quite sure if it meant much or added anything to the overall book. One aspect of this book that must be mentioned is the language. It is beautifully written and the description of people, scenery, sound, smell and movement is so vivid. You can picture the forest where the old archeologist and the little girl live, you can see Anil storming out of the hearing and you can hear the frantic sounds in the hospital as the brother goes to sleep in the pediatric ward. There is a degree of commonality in the style with The English Patient. Thematically both books are very similar; a story of three complex people whose lives become heavily intertwined in a period of time, with an action packed frenzied background. There is also the three continent connection. The main criticism I have of this book is that I felt it was somehow cut short, or should have been a lot shorter or even a collection of short stories. There was so much to build on and to develop. Ondaatje should have edited out some irrelevant parts or really expanded them and done this fantastic build up more justice. Maybe this is where the editor may have gone wrong or not done enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Severely disappointing
Review: Although I have never read an Ondaatje book, I expected his writing to be beautiful and thoughtful. I have heard such wonderful things about his writing and I thorougly enjoyed the movie "The English Patient." Perhaps that is the book I should have chosen. "Anil's Ghost" started slowly but never picked up. There was nothing in the book to keep me engrossed. This would be okay if the prose made up for the lack of story. Although Ondaatje attempted to write in poetic prose, it simply went nowhere. The imagery seemed to confuse me rather than add to the story. I consider myself an avid reader and I love to read beautiful prose. However, the prose should take the reader somewhere. "Anil's Ghost" seemed to be a collection of fragmented prose and stories. The fact that the story jumped back and forth between characters and in time was not confusing but it caused me to lose my attention. The characters were dry and uninteresting to me. Not only did Ondaatje not tell me enough about Anil, but what he did tell me was not all that likeable. She seemed to be a lost soul, but she never seemed to find herself. The fact that Ondaatje never even discussed her at the end of the book indicated to me that he didn't care much about her either. The most interesting part of the book was the background story of the war and the skeleton Sailor. However, it was very glossed over. The story was more about Sarath and Gamini which I was not expecting. I was more interested in Sailor's story. In part I only kept reading the book to find out his identity and how he died. However, when this information was finally given to me, it was glossed over in a couple of paragraphs. Very disappointing! I have given the book 2 stars instead of one though because some of his writing was beautiful. If only Ondaatje could put this poetry in some semblance of order. This book seemed like it should have been his first book rather than his latest!
Rating:
Summary: A great and intense novel, like a stream of cold water
Review: I loved this book and can't wait to read it again. The older I get the less I can stand best-sellers, with their rampant exposition and lack of trust in the reader. This is just the opposite. Ondaatje trusts you to figure out the story, to add two and two, which is part of the pleasure of novel reading, I think. His use of language, his keen insight into the characters, the depth to which he plumbs the human heart -- all make this a first-rate novel. The only novels I would rank above it are Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," Melville's "Moby Dick" and James Joyce's "Ulysses."
Rating:
Summary: A very moving & highly readable novel
Review: Ondaatje has written a beautiful, full-realized character study of several Sri Lankans & Sri Lanka in the 1990s. Like his other books, the reader comes to inhabit the minds of all the principle charaters, and to feel the claustrophobia & danger of living as an intellectual or a member of the middle class in Sri Lanka today. I actually came away wishing the novel had been 2 or 3 times longer, to get more about each of the characters. So I was very distressed when the novel was over. It seems as if he could write 2 more novels about the same set of characters, and maybe he will.
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