In Der Haut Eines Lowen
by Michael Ondaatje
published
(first published 1987)
by Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (DTV)
edit
binding
Paperback, 241 pages
isbn
3423122609
(isbn13: 9783423122603)
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
| topics | replies | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Random Person...: Top 5 Books on Your Personal Favorites | 53 | 61 | 16 days ago, 07:40AM | |
| Powerful sexual energy,with sweetness! Labor problems included. | 1 | 3 | 01/10/2008 12:11PM |
groups with this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1379)
Read in November, 2007
"In the Skin of a Lion" is thick with memorable scenes. The plot advances from one evocative epiphany or boiling point to the next, threading together a small crew of intense and sympathetic individuals.
The stoic, unschooled and hard-working protagonists allow a fresh perspective on early 20th century industrialization, which Ondaatje manages without ever becoming preachy or obsessed.
The life circumstances that Ondaatje chooses to include impart an almost mythic quality to the...more
The stoic, unschooled and hard-working protagonists allow a fresh perspective on early 20th century industrialization, which Ondaatje manages without ever becoming preachy or obsessed.
The life circumstances that Ondaatje chooses to include impart an almost mythic quality to the...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2006
In general, this is a book I wanted to keep reading while I wasn't, which is a good sign.
I liked the setting of this book: the Depression in Toronto. I actually learned a lot about Toronto just reading this and looking things up. One of the best qualities this story had was that it was timeless enough to feel like it was happening in the very present.
I think the many messages the story had within it were actually quite clear once the story finished. It was a good 3rd person depiction of ...more
I liked the setting of this book: the Depression in Toronto. I actually learned a lot about Toronto just reading this and looking things up. One of the best qualities this story had was that it was timeless enough to feel like it was happening in the very present.
I think the many messages the story had within it were actually quite clear once the story finished. It was a good 3rd person depiction of ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I finished reading this book several weeks ago just before an interview at the National Arts Centre with Michael Ondaatje. In face, I believe I finished it mere hours before seeing him speak.
I had never read an Ondaatje book, and felt that I should, given the fact that I was about to see an hour long interview with the man. I chose In the Skin of A Lion based on this thread on Ask Metafilter. Lion came up several times as the Quintessential Canadian Novel (something I find interesting, given t...more
I had never read an Ondaatje book, and felt that I should, given the fact that I was about to see an hour long interview with the man. I chose In the Skin of A Lion based on this thread on Ask Metafilter. Lion came up several times as the Quintessential Canadian Novel (something I find interesting, given t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2005
The best book I've read in 5 years.
But everyone I recommend it to hates it.
The prose is poetry, and the genetic connection to Ondaatje's earlier prose-poem works like "Coming through Slaughter" is obvious. But the power of this book resides in his characterization - you come to be absolutely devoted to the individuals - and I choose that word deliberately - that populate this novel. Though sparingly described, they seem more familiar than the characters so exhaustively catalo...more
But everyone I recommend it to hates it.
The prose is poetry, and the genetic connection to Ondaatje's earlier prose-poem works like "Coming through Slaughter" is obvious. But the power of this book resides in his characterization - you come to be absolutely devoted to the individuals - and I choose that word deliberately - that populate this novel. Though sparingly described, they seem more familiar than the characters so exhaustively catalo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje has some scenes that will stick with me but overall it lacked the cohesion of The English Patient. The novel covers the life of a would-be terrorist from his childhood growing up in rural Canada and then moving to Toronto. A depressed economy, unfair labor practices and a number of other factors bring Patrick Lewis bring him to extreme measures.
The novel which takes its title from a line from The Epic of Gilgamesh is in many ways a Canadian Jungle (U...more
The novel which takes its title from a line from The Epic of Gilgamesh is in many ways a Canadian Jungle (U...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
recommended to Diane by:
no one - I needed something to read while staying with my inlawsrecommends it for: people who plan to read The English Patient.
Though this book has some vivid and memorable scenes, I cannot say that there’s a strong storyline or that the story made much sense to me. I didn’t have much interest in what happened next, and it took me a long time to finish such a short book. I am now reading the English Patient and enjoying it much more. I do believe, however, that having read this book first is making me enjoy The English Patient more than I would have otherwise for two reasons. First, it gives me background on two...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
what love affairs! i was put off initially by the preening masculinity of long passages about loggers and bridge-builders and other big-biceped sorts. beautifully written, and a necessary set-up, but a bit much, for me, now, anyway. but in came the nun, clara, and alice. though clara was a little too much the woman that so many smart men (characters and authors and various other real-world types alike) dream up ---- poetically mysterious, eloquently vague, occasionally vulnerable but ultimately ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2001
This is my favourite of Ondaatje's novels, and I am quite the Ondaatje fan, so. This is pomo in ways that are by now familiar: interested in collage-style historical documentation, nonlinear, imagistic, in opposition to grand narratives, obsessed with artistic creation, etc. And I love that stuff, because it is awesome. But what really makes this work is Ondaatje's prose, which is lush and visceral and delicious - he invests all of his characters with a specific kind of depth resultant from t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2003
If you aren't already aware, this is more or less a prequel to "The English Patient," with a different focus - as if the existence of similar characters were accidental rather than explanatory. Hanna, the nurse who is central to the latter novel (but only supporting in the film) is a small child in this one, which is set in Canada before the war. One of the more interesting characters in both is David Caravaggio, the thief, given his due background in this one. I desperately want to...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
recommended to Celeste by:
Book Club Selection
Overall, my thoughts are mixed... while this is a superbly written book and I enjoyed it, I didn't love. And I found the large breaks in time in the story confusing and a bit frustrating. The story is beautifully written. And I really enjoyed the historical aspects of the building of Toronto. However, I was frustrated by the lack of character development; just as you would get into a character's story, the character would be dropped.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
recommended to Lavina by:
Jean
I can't pinpoint exactly why I liked this so much; I can't even succinctly describe what it's about in a way that won't make the book sound, well, boring. Nevertheless, I loved reading this. It's a love story, in its way; it's a story of immigrants in Toronto, too; it's also somewhat a story of family (actual and created), displacement, loss. But the events of the stories are told in snippets, concise yet hazy fragments, that sort of form a neat and beautifully narrated picture book (without act...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
nuns, young Canadians, and the Polish
Michael Ondaatje is one of my favorite writers, so it's no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although it didn't touch me in the way that The English Patient did (how the freak do you write in italics on this thing?), it struck me with the same elegance of prose and haunting characters. Ondaatje is impeccable in his character development and his ability to bond a reader to those characters. I love the passage in which the dramas take place in the factory...such a beautiful scene.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2007
I read this last summer when I was on an Ondaatje kick. It has the same characters as in the English Patient which was interesting but they are not like a trilogy or connected in that way. As with all Ondaatje books, the story is a bit vague at times but his writing is so poetic I don't think you read these novels for their plot.I must say though, that after reading this book and The English Patient back to back, it was time for some straight forward plot and dialog! Worth the read.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I read this when I was trying to like Toronto more... it's always listed as one of the only books where Toronto is a character (the way New York City or Paris or London or St. Petersburg are in countless books). I don't think Toronto is really a character yet--just a place with a history. The best best part is the description of building the bloor via duct (a high steel bridge built in the early 1900s) because it feels like actually stepping back in time.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Gorgeous prose, moving back and forth in time to follow the interaction of several characters whose lives intersect. 1920's Toronto brought to life with strong and sometimes startling detail. Ondaatje's style is intimate and searching, hypnotic really. Initially I was not sure I liked this book and then suddenly I could not put it down.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Say Ondaatje and everyone thinks of The English Patient. This predates it, though some of the characters are the same. An extraordinarily well-crafted tale of survival and adaptation in a very strange land (Canada). Scenes written to be engraved on a reader's memory. Stealing warmth from a cow's gums, for instance.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
mechanics enthusiasts
This story starts with bridge-builders in Toronto in the 1800s. It brought in some Ondaatje repeat characters like Caravaggio the thief. I read this a while ago but I remember being struck by his delicate and precise language. A much less sweeping plot than the English Patient, but a really worthwhile story still.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
ondaatje writes beautiful prose, and this book is no exception. this book enveloped me and left me feeling like a revolutionary in 1930s toronto. bonus points: the introductions of hana, caravaggio, patrick, and clara, all of whom i know (some better than others) from the english patient.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Touching and true to my Torontonian past. I love that Mr. Ondaatje uses real events and does his research to perfectly capture the setting. Also, the flip-flopping of stories and the intertwining of characters provides a great climatic ending.
I would highly recommend this one!
I would highly recommend this one!
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2007
I was utterly swept away by this book. Ondaatje writes in that space between wakefulness and sleep. Beautifully poetic, the novel evokes images that are simultaneously startling and familiar, and captures a landscape of emotions inspired by events in Toronto in the 1920s and 30s.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
