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The English Patient / Anils Ghost
- GenresFiction
Audio CD
Published December 7, 2001
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86 people want to read
About the author
Michael Ondaatje
123 books4,222 followersPhilip Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, and essayist, renowned for his contributions to both poetry and prose. He was born in Colombo in 1943, to a family of Tamil and Burgher descent. Ondaatje emigrated to Canada in 1962, where he pursued his education, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts from Queen's University.
Ondaatje’s literary career began in 1967 with his poetry collection The Dainty Monsters, followed by his celebrated The Collected Works of Billy the Kid in 1970. His poetry earned him numerous accolades, including the Governor General’s Award for his collection There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems 1973–1978 in 1979. He published 13 books of poetry, exploring diverse themes and poetic forms.
In 1992, Ondaatje gained international fame with the publication of his novel The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize and was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. His other notable works include In the Skin of a Lion (1987), Anil’s Ghost (2000), and Divisadero (2007), which won the Governor General’s Award. Ondaatje’s novel Warlight (2018) was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Aside from his writing, Ondaatje has been influential in fostering Canadian literature. He served as an editor at Coach House Books, contributing to the promotion of new Canadian voices. He also co-edited Brick, A Literary Journal, and worked as a founding trustee of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.
Ondaatje’s work spans various forms, including plays, documentaries, and essays. His 2002 book The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film earned him critical acclaim and won several awards. His plays have been adapted from his novels, including The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Coming Through Slaughter.
Over his career, Ondaatje has been honored with several prestigious awards. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1988, upgraded to Companion in 2016, and received the Sri Lanka Ratna in 2005. In 2016, a new species of spider, Brignolia ondaatjei, was named in his honor.
Ondaatje’s personal life is also intertwined with his literary pursuits. He has been married to novelist Linda Spalding, and the couple co-edits Brick. He has two children from his first marriage and is the brother of philanthropist Sir Christopher Ondaatje. He was also involved in a public stand against the PEN American Center's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo in 2015, citing concerns about the publication's anti-Islamic content.
Ondaatje’s enduring influence on literature and his ability to blend personal history with universal themes in his writing continue to shape Canadian and world literature.
Ondaatje’s literary career began in 1967 with his poetry collection The Dainty Monsters, followed by his celebrated The Collected Works of Billy the Kid in 1970. His poetry earned him numerous accolades, including the Governor General’s Award for his collection There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems 1973–1978 in 1979. He published 13 books of poetry, exploring diverse themes and poetic forms.
In 1992, Ondaatje gained international fame with the publication of his novel The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize and was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. His other notable works include In the Skin of a Lion (1987), Anil’s Ghost (2000), and Divisadero (2007), which won the Governor General’s Award. Ondaatje’s novel Warlight (2018) was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Aside from his writing, Ondaatje has been influential in fostering Canadian literature. He served as an editor at Coach House Books, contributing to the promotion of new Canadian voices. He also co-edited Brick, A Literary Journal, and worked as a founding trustee of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.
Ondaatje’s work spans various forms, including plays, documentaries, and essays. His 2002 book The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film earned him critical acclaim and won several awards. His plays have been adapted from his novels, including The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Coming Through Slaughter.
Over his career, Ondaatje has been honored with several prestigious awards. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1988, upgraded to Companion in 2016, and received the Sri Lanka Ratna in 2005. In 2016, a new species of spider, Brignolia ondaatjei, was named in his honor.
Ondaatje’s personal life is also intertwined with his literary pursuits. He has been married to novelist Linda Spalding, and the couple co-edits Brick. He has two children from his first marriage and is the brother of philanthropist Sir Christopher Ondaatje. He was also involved in a public stand against the PEN American Center's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo in 2015, citing concerns about the publication's anti-Islamic content.
Ondaatje’s enduring influence on literature and his ability to blend personal history with universal themes in his writing continue to shape Canadian and world literature.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 19, 2019
I enjoyed this one, I think. Fortunately, I'd seen the movie twice and that anchored me a bit in what was happening. Booker Prize or not, it's a difficult book. Ondaatje is overly fond of pronouns and it's often difficult to figure out exactly who this particular "he" is. The "she" was OK since there was usually only the nurse.
Combine all the "he" characters in present and flashbacks, with the same character being called 2 or three different things -- most especially Singh, Kip, the sapper, the Indian, and the bomb disposal guy (all the same character)-- I confess I struggled.
The final straw: the last CD from the library was so trashed I had to get the hardcover and finally saw how some of the names were spelled as I finished it.
And when I returned the CD set, his newest book had finally risen to the top of the reserve list for me. I'd started out about 68th on the list. Hope it's easier to follow.
Combine all the "he" characters in present and flashbacks, with the same character being called 2 or three different things -- most especially Singh, Kip, the sapper, the Indian, and the bomb disposal guy (all the same character)-- I confess I struggled.
The final straw: the last CD from the library was so trashed I had to get the hardcover and finally saw how some of the names were spelled as I finished it.
And when I returned the CD set, his newest book had finally risen to the top of the reserve list for me. I'd started out about 68th on the list. Hope it's easier to follow.
April 15, 2024
The English Patient
Michael Oondaatje
23/03/2024
The librarian from Sherlock and Pages in Frome recommended this book. He said it has one of the most beautiful descriptions of deserts, almost to hear its texture and song. I was intrigued. I had seen the film, years ago, with Ralph Fiennes, Kirsten Scott-Thomas and Juliette Binoche, but frankly I don’t remember it, and in anycase, on rare occasions the film is as good as the book.
The story goes around an abandoned Villa in an Italian place at the end of the Second World War, where the chaos of surrounded troops is slowly and messily taken by the allies. There are four characters that are not what they seemed: first, the English patient, a soldier or a spy, a man who does not remember his identity, but can recall in detail every nook and crevice of the Gilf Kebir and the surrounding desert. There is a nurse, a young woman called Hannah who is devoted to her patient to the point of obsession. A man without hands arrives at the Villa, his name is Caravaggio, a thief. He had met Hana before the war and once he learns about her existence in that desolated place he moves in. Finally, there is the young sapper: Kirpal Singh - Kip, an Indian expert in disarming mines and other booby traps.
Throughout the story, each of the characters find their own ways to survive, mostly, by focusing on their preferred form of beauty. For example, the English patient is enamoured of his own mind and his knowledge of the desert. Going through descriptions of places, archaeological adventures and the almost mystical quality of the sandy landscapes, make his already extinguished experience bearable. His body is totally burnt, kept alive by tribes of tuaregs and other travellers for his knowledge, only his blue eyes shine when he is not doped by the opium. Caravaggio, the thief without hands, is obsessed with the beauty of objects and their stories. He goes around abandoned houses, collecting whatever he can find, from food to booze, as well as stealing the little dispensary of opium kept by Hannah. The young sapper is enamoured of machines. As a Sikh, he has an affinity with mechanical objects, the possibility of understanding their mechanism, the flow and focus required to save lives, including his own through manipulating cables and connections.
What I loved about this book? I think that although World War II has been endlessly documented, told and reccounted, there are many mysteries. For example, that liminal space between the German forces retreating and the allies advancing, and the chaos and confusion of this shift in powers. I also loved the descriptions of the desert, the different types of wind, the varieties of sand, the life in the expansive silence of this landscape. This was a total hit for me.
What do I learn from this reading, as a writer?
Firstly, the importance of doing your research. In the acknowledgements, the author talks about the extensive research and collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society. It seems to me that the real love affair here was one of the author’s with the imagined and visited landscape:
“The desert could not be claimed or owned -it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones, and given a hundred shifting names long before Canterbury existed, long before battles and treated quilted Europe and the East. Its caravan, those strange rambling feasts and cultures, left nothing behind, not an ember…. It was a place of faith. We disappeared into the landscapes. Fire and sand.” p. 148
There are some beautiful writing and the descriptions are sublime:
“I am a man whose life in many ways, even as an explorer, has been governed by words. By rumours and legends. Chartered things. Shards written down. The tact of words. In the desert to repeat something would be to fling more water into the earth. (p.245)
Words, Caravaggio. They have power.” (p. 249)
Michael Oondaatje
23/03/2024
The librarian from Sherlock and Pages in Frome recommended this book. He said it has one of the most beautiful descriptions of deserts, almost to hear its texture and song. I was intrigued. I had seen the film, years ago, with Ralph Fiennes, Kirsten Scott-Thomas and Juliette Binoche, but frankly I don’t remember it, and in anycase, on rare occasions the film is as good as the book.
The story goes around an abandoned Villa in an Italian place at the end of the Second World War, where the chaos of surrounded troops is slowly and messily taken by the allies. There are four characters that are not what they seemed: first, the English patient, a soldier or a spy, a man who does not remember his identity, but can recall in detail every nook and crevice of the Gilf Kebir and the surrounding desert. There is a nurse, a young woman called Hannah who is devoted to her patient to the point of obsession. A man without hands arrives at the Villa, his name is Caravaggio, a thief. He had met Hana before the war and once he learns about her existence in that desolated place he moves in. Finally, there is the young sapper: Kirpal Singh - Kip, an Indian expert in disarming mines and other booby traps.
Throughout the story, each of the characters find their own ways to survive, mostly, by focusing on their preferred form of beauty. For example, the English patient is enamoured of his own mind and his knowledge of the desert. Going through descriptions of places, archaeological adventures and the almost mystical quality of the sandy landscapes, make his already extinguished experience bearable. His body is totally burnt, kept alive by tribes of tuaregs and other travellers for his knowledge, only his blue eyes shine when he is not doped by the opium. Caravaggio, the thief without hands, is obsessed with the beauty of objects and their stories. He goes around abandoned houses, collecting whatever he can find, from food to booze, as well as stealing the little dispensary of opium kept by Hannah. The young sapper is enamoured of machines. As a Sikh, he has an affinity with mechanical objects, the possibility of understanding their mechanism, the flow and focus required to save lives, including his own through manipulating cables and connections.
What I loved about this book? I think that although World War II has been endlessly documented, told and reccounted, there are many mysteries. For example, that liminal space between the German forces retreating and the allies advancing, and the chaos and confusion of this shift in powers. I also loved the descriptions of the desert, the different types of wind, the varieties of sand, the life in the expansive silence of this landscape. This was a total hit for me.
What do I learn from this reading, as a writer?
Firstly, the importance of doing your research. In the acknowledgements, the author talks about the extensive research and collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society. It seems to me that the real love affair here was one of the author’s with the imagined and visited landscape:
“The desert could not be claimed or owned -it was a piece of cloth carried by winds, never held down by stones, and given a hundred shifting names long before Canterbury existed, long before battles and treated quilted Europe and the East. Its caravan, those strange rambling feasts and cultures, left nothing behind, not an ember…. It was a place of faith. We disappeared into the landscapes. Fire and sand.” p. 148
There are some beautiful writing and the descriptions are sublime:
“I am a man whose life in many ways, even as an explorer, has been governed by words. By rumours and legends. Chartered things. Shards written down. The tact of words. In the desert to repeat something would be to fling more water into the earth. (p.245)
Words, Caravaggio. They have power.” (p. 249)
May 12, 2023
Really enjoyed this. A real page Turner centred around 4 main characters. I'm going to have to watch the film again now. ;)
September 21, 2024
The film was marvellous, but the book was a tremendous disappointment. Only the penultimate chapter was really engaging. The rest was rambling and dull.
October 31, 2024
I watched the movie a long time ago and didn’t like it. The book redeemed the story for me. It is beautifully written.
May 29, 2025
Having never heard of the film before I read The English Patient, I went into this book blind and believe I was quite rewarded. It is a stunning book, beautifully written, but the real core of the text were its characters. They are deeply different people, united by the shared experience of the Second World War. These experiences bounce off each other, characters find shared common ground - an understanding which is built and then blown away. Their experiences are not prescriptive nor even really comparable to one another, but they drive the action, much of which occurs in flashback. It is a story about memory and how one defines oneself and is defined by others and is executed brilliantly.
February 20, 2008
Hadn't known much about forensic anthropology before reading this book and was impressed with how much can be learned about a person's life after unearthing their skeleton. Ondaatje benefited from having lived in Sri Lanka in describing the wanton destruction of life there and the need for the investigators of a particular death to work clandestenly. Would have given it five stars if inclusion of information about an investigator's brother had been handled better. It seemed to be extraneous until the reason for it was included near the end.
July 22, 2013
Ondaaje has a gift for writing, he carries the reader into another time and culture. His powers of description are so strong the reader becomes a part of the process, rather than a passive observer. So much is packed into each paragraph encouraging the reader to go back and re-read for fear something might be missed. Ondaate's novels are not to be skimmed. If you are looking for something to sink your teeth into and truly luxuriate over this is the novel for you. I will definitely read this one again.
March 31, 2017
Ever read this ,“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.” I have been reading Ondatjee , Cormac-McCarthy, Henry David Thoreau for a while now.Reading them is such a profound feeling and I am amazed by their capabilities of taking their characters to life.I agree it takes a while to get along,even I had a good struggle with them,but never wanted to quite on any of it.
English patient is a step by step journey,without a beginning or an ending po..
English patient is a step by step journey,without a beginning or an ending po..
May 10, 2008
liked the book and the movie,,,now there is a rarity
November 2, 2008
I loved this rich story about 4 survivers of WW2 and how they merge, mingle and reveal themselves to each other. Each mutilated in his way, all about identity w/held, defined and revealed to me.
Want to read
February 22, 2010Much better than movie
December 15, 2013
loved this book
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews