Matt's review
Coming Through Slaughter
by Michael Ondaatje
Thanks for recommending this--I love Ondaatje's poems, but The English Patient made me nappy and tried my patience. Maybe this one's better...
It shouldn't make you nap-- its sections are very short and many have explicit sexual content, which always keeps me awake:)
Did you know Nate "Sensational Spectacular" Pritts is one of my best friends?
MD
It's been years since I read EP, so I don't remember what exactly struck me as so soporific (maybe I just didn't feel invested in the good sex parts you speak of).
But if it gets your thumbs up, I might give it another shot sometime.
As far a titles go, Coming Through Slaughter beats The English Patient in any Title Showdown, no?
BTW, yeah, I like Pritts. No naps there.
Matt's review
Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje
Matt's review
rating:
Wow, what a book!
I haven't read Ondaatje before, or at least not much, and I don't know what I expected, but the level of lyricism from page to page, paragraph to paragraph was really stunning and made this a really rather incredible read.
There are places where I have issues with it, or at least think I do (what happens to Webb, or the fact that the insanity seems so, I don't know, underconsidered-- maybe it's just me, but the link between these romantic triangles Bolden found himself in and the music he played was never clear?), but there's so much here to like-- It's got bits of Jean Toomer in here, but also WG Sebald and hints of what is to come in Toni Morrison's Jazz. An accomplished and deeply satisfying reading experience.
I haven't read Ondaatje before, or at least not much, and I don't know what I expected, but the level of lyricism from page to page, paragraph to paragraph was really stunning and made this a really rather incredible read.
There are places where I have issues with it, or at least think I do (what happens to Webb, or the fact that the insanity seems so, I don't know, underconsidered-- maybe it's just me, but the link between these romantic triangles Bolden found himself in and the music he played was never clear?), but there's so much here to like-- It's got bits of Jean Toomer in here, but also WG Sebald and hints of what is to come in Toni Morrison's Jazz. An accomplished and deeply satisfying reading experience.
Thanks for recommending this--I love Ondaatje's poems, but The English Patient made me nappy and tried my patience. Maybe this one's better...
It shouldn't make you nap-- its sections are very short and many have explicit sexual content, which always keeps me awake:)Did you know Nate "Sensational Spectacular" Pritts is one of my best friends?
MD
It's been years since I read EP, so I don't remember what exactly struck me as so soporific (maybe I just didn't feel invested in the good sex parts you speak of).
But if it gets your thumbs up, I might give it another shot sometime.
As far a titles go, Coming Through Slaughter beats The English Patient in any Title Showdown, no?
BTW, yeah, I like Pritts. No naps there.