Rating: 
Summary: Faces Covered: Ondaatje's Reports of the Victims
Review: ...Twenty-four hours after breaking my arm, I began to read this convoluted, weirdly appealing narrative of Sri Lankan civil war, in which a forensic anthropologist, Anil, returns from America to Sri Lanka, sent by an international human rights organization to investigate organized campaigns of murder.Passionately honest, outspoken, and committed to justice, Anil cannot understand the wariness of Sarath, an archaeologist and human rights colleague, who tries to persuade her that communicating with authorities is dangerous, especially when the pair find evidence that the government has killed thousands, including "Sailor," their nickname for the skeleton of a man their research proves was killed five years ago, though it was hidden in a tomb of ancient relics and skeletons. Eventually they seek help from Sarath's brother Gamini, a burned-out emergency room doctor. At one point he says: "It's the wrong time for unburials. They don't want results. They're fighting a war on two sides now, the government. They don't need more criticism....Anyway, these guys who are setting off the bombs are who the Western press calls freedom fighters....And you want to investigate the government?" But Anil,westernized by her education in England and America and years abroad, stands up for human rights. And the consequences of speaking out at a public government meeting, the price for her rebuke of high officials, the cost of one tiny piece of proof that may help the human rights organization stop the government killing of citizens, may mean death,ironically for her best friend, a man she cannot even recognize as her friend. I love this book. It is a difficult read, one that may best be appreciated not at the beach, but under the shade of an oak or wych-elm tree, and probably should be read at least three times. A grade of A for Michael Ondaatje, whose book may very well be the Howards End for Americans of color.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic Descriptions and Imagery; Inspires Nostalgia
Review: Reading Mr. Ondaatje's latest literary work brought feelings of nostalgia and an uneasiness and fear about the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. I consider myself to be more knowledgable than most of my acquaintances with regard to customs, language and culinary fare of Sri Lanka, so it was easy to understand Sinhala references to rest houses; potato roti; shandy; sugar hoppers, the castle fortress at Sigriya and the phrase 'NeNe', because of two wonderful trips to Sri Lanka and because my fiance'was born and raised there. However, other references eluded me and I needed to stop and get definitions which proved to be frustrating. I can imagine the frustrations that those references could have caused with readers completely unaware of Sri Lanka culture. The imagery painted by Mr. Ondaatje of the violence and disappearances was very real. As insignificant as the details may seem, I would have liked to have gotten closure with regard to Ananda's wife (because references to Sirissa were many); what Anil's "real" name was prior to bartering with her brother (since so much was written about that); and the circumstances and perpetrators involved in Sarath's murder (since you assume that it was members of the Historical Society). It was great to finally get a more detailed glimpse into the life of Gamini, the doctor. If there was any criticism about what is lacking in this book it is the wish that all of the characters could have been painted in as much detail as Gamini. The bones of "Sailor", while it made interesting reading, went no-where in terms of plot since your first assumption is that is what brings everyone together; however, after the skeleton was returned to the ship, you never heard about it again or what impact unearthing it made in the scheme of things. The war and atrocities could not have been any more realistic and was heartwrenching to read-I can't imagine what a native Sri Lankan must possibly feel when they read it. The dangers are real, the areas that are off-limits exist, and Mr. Ondaatje has crafted a beautiful novel, which reveals his obvious affection for his homeland.
Rating: 
Summary: Anil's ghost- More shadow than substance
Review: The biggest cross an author sometimes has to bear is the one book which makes him famous, notorious or simply noticed:In Ondatje's case,'The English Patient'.Any subsequent writing will be measured by the same high standard of the earlier work. If anything,'Anil's ghost'is a subject nearer to the Author's own experiences and I would suspect, his heart; the characters though not as exotic as the trio in his earlier book, are dimmer and less vital. If Anil, the central character with her strange, androgynous name is meant to be engimatic, the author succeeds yet this enigma does not unfold enough. As is to be expected, the author writes on many diverse subjects: medicine, archaeology, even human bombs with great authority; yet his views of the conflict in Sri Lanka while full of detail are strangely reticent, paying only token attention to many parts of this tragic puzzle.One wonders if it is his very proximity to the subject which has hamstrung him; on the other hand if it is his intention to write apolitically it renders the work colder and less passionate.To look at it purely through the eyes of his two local characters, the brothers who discuss the conflict in opposite,yet the most guarded terms;is a disappointing idea. Ondatje's prose meanwhile keeps your interest alive, especially when the story moves into the hinterland of the island with vivid descriptions of ancient sites. The book falters to a weak conclusion whose symbology if any fails most of the promise of the earlier writing.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Having read and loved both the novel and the film version of "The English Patient", I was looking forward to Mr. Ondaatje's latest with great anticipation. I read it over the span of two days, and while it certainly kept me turning the pages, I have to say, I did not find it nearly as engaging as some of his other works. I didn't feel a strong connection with any of the central characters and therefore, I really did not care one or way the other about what happened to them. I was more drawn to Ananda, the alcoholic "eye" painter and Gameni, the overworked/understaffed doctor who make scattered appearances throughout the book. Perhaps I was spoiled having just finished reading Ward Just's "A Dangerous Friend" which also deals with politics and violence in Southeast Asia. I found that book to be a much more compelling read. While I am familiar with the Tamil struggle for independence in Sri Lanka, a reader who isn't may be somewhat baffled by the political situation alluded to in the book. A worthwhile read, haunting even, but somewhat a disappointment (for this reader anyway).
Rating:
Summary: Didn't hold my interest
Review: I enjoyed "The English Patient" very much, so I was looking forward to this new book. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I had expected to. It has definite literary quality, but I just couldn't get involved in the story. There was a lot of jumping back and forth in time and place, and it was somewhat disconcerting. In addition, the almost complete lack of background gave this reader a strong feeling of disconnectedness to the characters. It was difficult to get interested in the characters, as they seemed to be drawn very cursorily. Learning about Sri Lanka was a plus, but not enough of one for me to really recommend reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Sri Lankan Beauty and Sri Lankan Horrors to Haunt
Review: This book was beautiful and disturbing. In and through the weavings of human grief and beauty, Ondaatje also characterized the country of Sri Lanka. The discriptions of rampant political violence were frightening and heart rending. But I came to love Sri Lanka more than any character. It would have been nice to have a map of Sri Lanka handy to locate the frequent references to place names. As noted by another reviewer there are many memorable phrases. One quote I liked was: "The important thing is to be able to live in a place or a situation where you must use your sixth sense all the time." I loved Anil's Ghost, but would recommend it only to those who love Sri Lanka, poetry, or Ondaatje.
Rating: 
Summary: A Flawed Novel, by fermed
Review: I found "Anil's Ghost" a flawed and failed attempt as a novel: neither its form nor its structure seemed capable of holding its material together, and the result is a fractured and inchoate narration that does not flow nor move nor urge the reader onward. The prose is often beautiful, but it alone cannot carry the action, which at time appears pointless and contrived. The novel's background is a multifaceted civil war which may very well have no meaning other than the great brutality it engenders; still, readers need to know something about the war's underlying issues if they are to become interested and emotionally engaged in its narration. The book does not inform about such issues. In the foreground is Anil, the young Sri Lankan expatriate who returns as a visiting forensic anthropologist. She, too, is incompletely sketched and rendered, and thus does not become alive for the reader, requiring the frequent hand of the writer to provide the motivation for her actions and her thoughts and her emotions. I think that the issues touched upon in this novel demand a very large canvas in order that they be properly and satisfactorily addressed. This book seems more like the sketchbook of a miniaturist, hurried and incomplete and ultimately disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, when read slowly
Review: It has taken Michael Ondaatje almost eight years to write a follow up novel to the widely acclaimed The English Patient. That kind of waiting makes you expect great things, and at first Anil's ghost can feel less revolutionary than its predecessor. The imagery, so improtant in The English Patient and previous novels, seem less memorable here, and in general this is a novel that relies more on conventional, linear narrative than the earlier, more poetic novels. But in Ondaatje's novels it is the characters that matter, and Anil's ghost is, when read more closely, not a conventional novel at all. After a while the story becomes more fragmented, and in return the portraits of the characters deepen considerably. In the long run though, you'll see that Anil's ghost is an astonishing piece of work. As in The English Patient, Ondaatje manages to turn tables in an unforeseen way at the end of the novel, and the way Ondaatje pulls all the fragmented pieces of the novel together in this ending is breathtakingly beautiful. It made me want to read the novel all over again immediately, knowing that I will have to wait several years until a new novel of this scope and magnitude comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Anil's Ghost
Review: Didn't really "get" this book. I found it very disjointed, and thought it lost its plot about halfway throught the book. I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A novel about war far removed from Clancy
Review: Anil's Ghost is the first book I have read by the acclaimed Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. I was familiar with the Oscar-ladden film adaption of his novel The English Patient, but had never read the book. I was interested in reading Ondaatje's work, but never got around to buying one of his books. I decided to pick up Anil's Ghost when I found it holding it's place at the top of the best-seller list. I did not know what to expect from it. The novel's setting is the island of Sri Lanka (also Ondaatje's native country before coming to Canada), that is being destroyed by civil war and terrorist attacks. Anil Tissera returns to the island to investigate possible war crimes. She works with Sarath, a middle-aged archeologist. Among the remains of older bones they discover the fresh remains of a body that points to government-founded terrorisme. She names the bones "Sailor", and tries to identify the body in the hopes of gaining the evidence she needs. As always, complications arise. The plot is kept minimal in the novel, mostly to introduce characters and explore how they have been affected by the war. Their are many little scenes that seem to have little point for the plot but add to the theme of the book. Ondaatjee occasionaly pauses the narrative in order to look at these different people directly involved in the war. I enjoyed the novel and will certainly look for Michael Ondaatje's books in the future.
| 
