The English Patient
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Amazon.co.uk Review
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.
Guardian
'One of the most innovative and liberating writers of our time'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful
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.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A crumbling villa sleeps solemnly, deeply buried in the hills of Italy. WWII has torn through the country and an abandoned nunnery has become a hospital where a young nurse, Hana, remains alone to care for her only patient, an English man irrevocably damaged, lost without the memory of his own identity after a tragic plane crash.
The story begins with two individuals brought together in desperate times. Hana is a young nurse toughened by her exposure to the consequence of war, `some men had unwound their last knot of life in her arms'. She remains only to dote on the English patient, a broken man, discovered by the Bedouin in a burning plane. He is bed bound and burnt black but as time unfolds, concealed from the outside world, Hana is unknowingly falling in love with him.
Later, they're joined by Hana's wise friend, Caravaggio. An ex thief used by the government during the war as a thief, he was caught, his fingers cut off and in hospital it would seem by fate he stumbled upon a conversation regarding her whereabouts. They are then discovered by a Sapper, Kip who's routine is reclusive and regimental. The heart's true desires become blurred, as Hana's emotions blossom for another man, and the story delves back into the English patient's forgotten passion yet to be rediscovered.
The story is sewn together in a passionate and poetic collaboration of language and emotion. This is a book that requires your attention and patience.
The English patient is an emotionally challenging read for the mature imagination, with complex and thrilling tales that build and weave, connecting their sorrowful hearts. It may not travel great distances but it delves deep into forgotten memories of a powerful and heartbreaking love. The book will capture you from start to finish and leave your grip reluctantly.
The story begins with two individuals brought together in desperate times. Hana is a young nurse toughened by her exposure to the consequence of war, `some men had unwound their last knot of life in her arms'. She remains only to dote on the English patient, a broken man, discovered by the Bedouin in a burning plane. He is bed bound and burnt black but as time unfolds, concealed from the outside world, Hana is unknowingly falling in love with him.
Later, they're joined by Hana's wise friend, Caravaggio. An ex thief used by the government during the war as a thief, he was caught, his fingers cut off and in hospital it would seem by fate he stumbled upon a conversation regarding her whereabouts. They are then discovered by a Sapper, Kip who's routine is reclusive and regimental. The heart's true desires become blurred, as Hana's emotions blossom for another man, and the story delves back into the English patient's forgotten passion yet to be rediscovered.
The story is sewn together in a passionate and poetic collaboration of language and emotion. This is a book that requires your attention and patience.
The English patient is an emotionally challenging read for the mature imagination, with complex and thrilling tales that build and weave, connecting their sorrowful hearts. It may not travel great distances but it delves deep into forgotten memories of a powerful and heartbreaking love. The book will capture you from start to finish and leave your grip reluctantly.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Stunningly beautiful examination of motive
When a book has won the Booker Prize and the film that it spawned has taken Oscars, the casual reviewer might be tempted to conclude that everything has already been said on its... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Philip Spires
The English Patient
The English Patient, written by Michael Onjudante, is a delicately written novel, exploring the life of a victim of war and his nurse as they begin their lives post-World War Two,... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lena Palmer
Good standard and prompt delivery
Book was in acceptable condition as described, obviously well used but still in good nick, delivered promptly as promised and was a pleasure to read. Thanks
Published 8 months ago by Dr Baljinder Singh
Don't buy it if. . .
If you are buying this book because you liked the film, then don't. The film makers took certain elements out of the book and made them into an excellent film. Read more
Published 9 months ago by student of Russian
Left me cold
The lyrical writing in The English Patient is at best original and at worst laboured and self-conscious. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Sally Bowles
The English Patient
I've been sent a book in a very short time, even if I don't live in the U.K. The service was great and the book perfect.
Published 13 months ago by cristina marasco
I'm glad I saw the film first...
This is a really odd book. If I hadn't seen the film first I don't think I would have a clue what was going on. It jumps from place to place and character to character. Read more
Published 13 months ago by W John Kennett
The English Patient
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. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Book 1981
A review of `The English Patient'
The English Patient is the third novel written by Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet Michael Ondaatje. Read more
Published 17 months ago by HT
The English Patient- Catherine Hunter
The English Patient written in 1992 by Michael Ondaatje, a Canadian novelist and poet. The novel was well received by readers and gained him the prestigious 1993 Booker prize. Read more
Published 17 months ago by PoorStudent
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