The final curtain is closing on the Second World War, and Hana, a nurse, stays behind in an abandoned Italian villa to tend to her only remaining patient. Rescued by Bedouins from a burning plane, he is English, anonymous, damaged beyond recognition and haunted by his memories of passion and betrayal. The only clue Hana has to his past is the one thing he clung on to through the fire - a copy of The Histories by Herodotus, covered with hand-written notes describing a painful and ultimately tragic love affair.
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Haunting and harrowing, as beautiful as it is disturbing, The English Patient tells the story of the entanglement of four damaged lives in an Italian monastery as the second world war ends. The exhausted nurse, Hana; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burn victim who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of passion, betrayal and rescue illuminate this book like flashes of sheet lightning. In lyrical prose informed by a poetic consciousness, Michael Ondaatje weaves these characters together, pulls them tight, then unravels the threads with unsettling acumen.
A book that binds readers of great literature, The English Patient secured the Booker Prize for author Ondaatje. The poet and novelist has also written In the Skin of a Lion, Coming Through Slaughter and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid; two collections of poems, The Cinnamon Peeler and There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do; and a memoir, Running in the Family. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Masterful...a rich and compelling work of fiction' -- Don DeLillo
'Ondaatje has now written the extraordinary novel we have been awaiting from him: The English Patient is a masterpiece' -- Financial Times
'One of the most innovative and liberating writers of our time' -- Guardian
'The English Patient wears the triple crown: ot is profound, beautiful and heart-quickening' -- Toni Morrison
'The best piece of fiction in English I've read in years' -- Independent on Sunday
'Ondaatje has now written the extraordinary novel we have been awaiting from him: The English Patient is a masterpiece' -- Financial Times
'One of the most innovative and liberating writers of our time' -- Guardian
'The English Patient wears the triple crown: ot is profound, beautiful and heart-quickening' -- Toni Morrison
'The best piece of fiction in English I've read in years' -- Independent on Sunday
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Essex Girl
Format:Paperback
This is one of the most beautiful books ever written. I dipped into it recently (having read it twice on the past several years) and the quality and beauty of the prose left me staggered at what can be done with the English language. The descriptions put you right into the location with the characters, from Kip in a crater defusing a bomb, to the eponymous patient in the desert.
One of the cleverest things about it is the way that we become acquainted with the characters as they would have got to know one another: in fits and starts, without chronology. They are built up layer by layer, incident by incident. They become visible in the mind's eye. Not only that, but we see the world through their eyes: the image of Kip lighting flares and swinging in space to look at the paintings inside the domes of churches is magical - and I'm not sure Ondaatje could have written it had he not come at Western culture from the East, born as he was into the Ceylon Burgher community.
The plot is complex, the characters are complex, the prose is amongst the best you will ever read. Now and then the switches of time and location will leave you gasping, as you turn the page expecting to read more about one of the characters, only to find yourself dropped into another part of the story.
The only thing that puzzled me was the persistent survival of the patient: that anyone so badly burned could survive so long seems illogical. Aside from that, I thought it was a perfect book about loss and longing, and written with almost implausible talent and skill. Ondaatje is a poet as well as a novelist, and that is very obvious in the pages of this story.
One of the cleverest things about it is the way that we become acquainted with the characters as they would have got to know one another: in fits and starts, without chronology. They are built up layer by layer, incident by incident. They become visible in the mind's eye. Not only that, but we see the world through their eyes: the image of Kip lighting flares and swinging in space to look at the paintings inside the domes of churches is magical - and I'm not sure Ondaatje could have written it had he not come at Western culture from the East, born as he was into the Ceylon Burgher community.
The plot is complex, the characters are complex, the prose is amongst the best you will ever read. Now and then the switches of time and location will leave you gasping, as you turn the page expecting to read more about one of the characters, only to find yourself dropped into another part of the story.
The only thing that puzzled me was the persistent survival of the patient: that anyone so badly burned could survive so long seems illogical. Aside from that, I thought it was a perfect book about loss and longing, and written with almost implausible talent and skill. Ondaatje is a poet as well as a novelist, and that is very obvious in the pages of this story.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is a book which should be read slowly and preferably aloud. In this highly recommended piece of literature we are taken on a sensual exploration of place and people. It is worth savoring the language which evokes the taste, touch, sight, sound and smell of the characters who are inextricably bound up with their own geographical and human journeys.
Hanna, 'imagines all of Asia through the gestures of this one man.' When Kip looks at Hanna, 'he sees a fragment of her lean cheek in relation to the landscape behind it.' The English Patient vividly recalls the dry heat of the desert being refreshed by a breeze eventually increasing and transforming the surface of the desert. 'We had to keep moving. If you pause sand builds up...and locks you in.' This is the same desert which had just been described as: 'The grooves and the corrugated sand (which) resemble the hollow of the roof of a dog's mouth.' In contrast we experience the freezing cold mud as Kip prepares to defuse an unexploded bomb: 'He had come down barefoot...being caught within the clay, unable to get a firm hold down there in the cold water. He wasn't wearing boots - they would have locked within the clay, and when he was pulleyed up later the jerk out of it could break his ankles.' The faceless English patient wears, 'an amber shell within his ear' so he can hear the clawing and breathing of the dog. He hears, 'the drift of voices, now and then a laugh from the smoky garden. He translates the smell, evolving it backwards to what had been burned.'
This is not a book for those who want a quick read in anticiapation of a comfortable resolution. The language compels us to linger as through our senses it transports us in space and time to places and events that have the appearance of fact rather than fiction.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Book 1981
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Unfortunately I saw the film before I read the book, which I normally try to avoid - Though it was years ago I saw it, I still had Ralph Fiennes and Juliet Binoche in my minds eye. To my surprise, however, the film did not keep faithfully to the book, so I was still able to enjoy new things - For example, Count Almasy's romance with Katharine almost takes a back seat to Hana's life in the Italian villa and the story of Kip, the Sikh sapper. Caravaggio is not the menacing stranger we see in the film, but more of a tortured father figure trying to look after Hana as she slowly starts to recover from the war.
The book it written in Ondaatje's signature style - poetic and atmospheric, slow and emotional. It is powerful and beautiful at the same time, an effect the lingers long after you close the book. The draw-back for me is that sometimes the emotional prose gets a little too flaky and hazy, a bit too dreamy and wandering. I sometimes even get the feeling he is trying too hard to achieve this intimate, rhythmic effect that the result is a little clumsy and contrived.
But without a doubt, this is a moving book about love, the disaster of war and the process of picking up the pieces afterwards. There are beautiful descriptions of the North African deserts and a small cast of vivid and believable characters which makes this book well worth the read.
The book it written in Ondaatje's signature style - poetic and atmospheric, slow and emotional. It is powerful and beautiful at the same time, an effect the lingers long after you close the book. The draw-back for me is that sometimes the emotional prose gets a little too flaky and hazy, a bit too dreamy and wandering. I sometimes even get the feeling he is trying too hard to achieve this intimate, rhythmic effect that the result is a little clumsy and contrived.
But without a doubt, this is a moving book about love, the disaster of war and the process of picking up the pieces afterwards. There are beautiful descriptions of the North African deserts and a small cast of vivid and believable characters which makes this book well worth the read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
The English Patient
This is a dreadfull book and I hated it. I cannot see what people see in it to rave over.
Published 2 days ago by Zillah Nicolle
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clear writing
Worth rereading as one is hijacked by the clear flow of images and misses the exceptional writing- read fast then re read slowly!
Published 1 month ago by L. Andre
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read after seeing the film
Having seen the film I found interest in seeing the differences and thought perhaps the film ending was a little better. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alexander Kreator
5.0 out of 5 stars
a Beautiful Film
because it was a beautiful story Ralph Fiennes Kristin Scot Thomas Juliette Binoche & Willem Dafoe and all the cast were
brilliant also the music was outstanding. Read more
brilliant also the music was outstanding. Read more
Published 2 months ago by R Helmore
1.0 out of 5 stars
Book Club Book
My heart sank when this book was chosen as our book for the month - I did not enjoy the film of the same name. Read more
Published 2 months ago by The Book Worm
3.0 out of 5 stars
The English Patient (special edition)
Well written stylistically but I'm glad I had an idea of the plot else would have found it difficult to follow. Not a page turner for me.
Published 4 months ago by MRS ANNE HARKNESS
4.0 out of 5 stars
A readable Booker Prize winner
I vaguely recall seeing the film that was made of this novel some years ago and wanted to read the novel. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Stephen Mcdaniel
4.0 out of 5 stars
Melancholy read
Although billed as a love story, there is so much more to be had from this, bomb disposal, espionage, exploration, archaeology, art and literature are all employed to varying... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ste to the J
5.0 out of 5 stars
The English Patient e-book on Kindle
This is a wonderful read, and very much better than the film. The characters are deep and involving, and the information about World war II and about the desert is fascinating.
Published 7 months ago by Traquair
5.0 out of 5 stars
The English Patient
This is a period of history that must not be forgotten. The story will remain with me and it is one of very few books that I am planning to re-read.
Published 9 months ago by Mrs. S. Michael
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