Michael Ondaatje is a great writer. I know this because everyone says so. I also know this because when I read The English Patient in school the essays I wrote were the easiest to write ever - easy to find complexities.
That said, I think there is always a sense of otherworldliness to his writing. I have this sense that the characters are very water color - complex, colorful but intangible. This became very clear to me when I was reading In The Skin of a Lion. There was something so unreal about it. The language is so beautiful, it's just not representative of the way I experience the world.
So, after 54 pages, I found I stopped reading it.
Now I'm reading Volkswagen Blues. Simple, clear, fun. The events are unlikely but real. I'm really enjoying it.
2 comments:
Some rambling about my appreciation for Ondaatje and a recommendation.
Ondaatje is one of my favourite writers... I am most attracted to him for his narrative style (as well as, in close second, his postcolonial themes and canadian lit). Less the complexities (b/c I could write about a billion pages on the nature of the potential for difficulty of some of his work) I think it's his subtly and poetry that I love so much. He leaves as much as out as he writes in detail about and that - i think - creates the sense kara wrote about.
But I'm not sure if In the Skin of the Lion is his best work. I know that when I bought the book many people in the store raved and congratulated me on choosing it.
But I stopped halfway and skipped to a more interesting part. Ahem, near the end.
I wonder if you wouldn't have enjoyed "Anil's Ghost" better... It's one of my favourites and there is a clear and obvious story-line/narrative to it. But it doesn't sacrifice anything for it.
Jacques Poulin?
Another French writer?
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