Book Review - The English Patient

Book Review

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (2 Aug 2004)

978-0747572596

I loved the film of The English Patient. In fact, I have watched it several times and I now have the DVD. I find it absorbing, exhilarating, emotional and beautifully told. I was recently encouraged to get the book to read but I’m afraid I didn’t quite make it to the end. It may be that watching the film clouded my judgement but I tried not to. For me it just wasn’t the same story at all.

There was Hana the nurse suffering emotional pain and becoming perhaps a little too close to her ward; her patient the English man with his book and his memories, Caravaggio a thief, addict and generally sinister interloper and Kip the bomb expert and the beautiful setting of the Italian countryside and large war damaged house. However, I got to halfway through the book and there hadn’t been any development of the love story, which brought the English Patient to that point in time.

With each page I turned, I kept expecting to find some familiar thread, but they got lost in the language, which at times seemed a little too clever and intellectual. I almost got the sense that the author was trying too hard. Following my last review, maybe I’m not a reader of ‘great literature’ though I would argue that is quite a subjective topic. Maybe I expected it to mirror the film too much and again, I don’t think that’s unreasonable.

I read somewhere that this book had to be ‘read slowly and out loud’ to experience the subtlety of the writing. Well to me that’s not reading – I would rather watch the film and that’s what I’ll do.

About the Author

Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan born Canadian novelist. The English Patient was awarded the Booker Prize and the film won Academy awards. He also writes autobiographies, poetry and films.

Readability Rating: 5

Recommendation: I’m not sure as I believe that my experience would not necessarily reflect another’s. I’m all for trying things out for myself and I loved the story so why not?