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Michael Ondaatje
Contains copies of four Michael Ondaatje The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Running in the Family, In the Skin of a Lion, and The Cinnamon Peeler.
Hardcover
First published September 1, 1993
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About the author
Michael Ondaatje
123 books4,215 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 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 14, 2009
i use this book in my memoir class for 2 classes because i love it THAT much. in week one, i read it to illustrate a "jumpstarted" memoir--in other words, ondaajte had me at hello. but it doesn't start off with a bang; it's a very subtle, poetic beginning in which the reader doesn't really know what's going on, wants to keep reading, but also wants to sit and ruminate on what they've just read. because of its sentence structure, language, and mood, the prologue opens a mystery that you want to explore, but also know it'll be there when you get to it. one of the other things i love about this first page is that, like joyce, you can see almost all of the themes ondaajte's going to discover along the way. it makes me wonder: did he write this "first page" after writing the rest of the book? or is he really just that good???
the 2nd week i use this text for is the week on technique, --"Keeping Craft Under Control." i think many people are scared of the way ondaajte writes, because he does challenge so many of our expectations of narrative. and yet, he is SO accessible, if you dare pick up the book. go ahead. pick it up. see if you don't agree with me...
the 2nd week i use this text for is the week on technique, --"Keeping Craft Under Control." i think many people are scared of the way ondaajte writes, because he does challenge so many of our expectations of narrative. and yet, he is SO accessible, if you dare pick up the book. go ahead. pick it up. see if you don't agree with me...
October 20, 2015
Read it for the writing, even if you don't care for the story. The writing reminds me of the way one can blur their vision in order to take in the essence of a too bright day - when you take away your focus you can hear the birds and smell the pavement or fields or sea, you can feel the slight breeze or the oppressive air, you can see the palette of colors without the detail of the picture.
As another reviewer, Eileen, said, "Many of the passages are understandable on a level beyond the words. The ideas almost seep into a stream of consciousness which are not directly linked with the actual sentence." This is exactly it. It is magical. It is messy. It is utterly transfixing.
As another reviewer, Eileen, said, "Many of the passages are understandable on a level beyond the words. The ideas almost seep into a stream of consciousness which are not directly linked with the actual sentence." This is exactly it. It is magical. It is messy. It is utterly transfixing.
May 9, 2013
The magic of this writing lies in the dream-like weaving of the story of a man's life, his intense attraction to a woman that he cannot "possess", with exquisite insight into some of the detailed explanations of how certain industrial practices work- the dyeing business, logging and dynamite, tunnel building, etc.
Many of the passages are understandable on a level beyond the words. The ideas almost seep into a stream of consciousness which are not directly linked with the actual sentence.
Many of the passages are understandable on a level beyond the words. The ideas almost seep into a stream of consciousness which are not directly linked with the actual sentence.
February 2, 2014
Incredible. When I started this book I thought it would not maintain my interest but it didn't take long before I was transfixed! Ondaatje is the most poetic and exquisite writer and his books are always so rich and cleverly structured. In this book, Ondaatje gives a voice to the millions who are sacrificed or silenced and not given due recognition in our history books! I love this book!
March 28, 2015
(This review pertains to "In the Skin of the Lion" only)
A story about immigrants and their neighborhoods, and the building of the city of Toronto, about capitalists and the workers they exploit, about love and revenge, loss and recovery.
Told in a lyrical style with scenes set apart from each other yet obliquely carrying the story line, Ondaatje's novel spans the early 1900's leading up to WWII, although, surprisingly, the impact of WWI on Canada gets a pass. Patrick is a farm boy and an immigrant to the city; Nicholas is an immigrant from Macedonia, Carol is a poor girl hanging out with an enigmatic millionaire, and Alice yearns for Patrick to take notice of her - all of them in strange territory, looking for acceptance.
Two large construction projects that gave Toronto it's character anchor this novel: the Bloor Viaduct and the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, and yet the country is named Upper America, making me wonder whether "Canada" was not a good sell in publishing circles at the time of this book's publication in the '80's. Many immigrant workers gave their lives to build these two engineering landmarks and the author gives us some unforgettable images: a nun falling off the half constructed bridge and being saved, immigrant workers organizing theatre performances on the worksite to alleviate the tedium of their lives, an intruder using the intake from the lake to gain access to the water treatment plant.
There is also a lot of interesting detail, revealed in poetic prose, on dynamiting logjams, on how immigrants learn English, the Bertillon System, tunneling underwater, dye work. I would not take the trouble to read up on these subjects, but in Ondaatje's mellifluous prose they are digestible. Even the sex act is transformed into poetry rather than pornography: check out the scene where the spoils of fellatio are shared by the lovers until diminishing returns accrue in their mouths.
I found the characters somewhat unconvincing: Patrick and Caravaggio come across as poetic academics and not of their hard scrabble farm and immigrant milieus, and the women are rather flaky in their romantic loyalties despite their sturdy working class backgrounds. The author resorts to the technique (probably innovative at the time, but rather overused today) of revealing an important fact, or an inflection point, further down the story path and then following up by flashing back to how we arrived at that point, and upon reaching it, flashing forward again to the next inflection point to back track, and so on.
Union busting, worker exploitation and closing of the ranks around the economically privileged "one percent" were alive and well in the early 20th century, and with their resurgence today, make this book topical. And the workers strike back, with arson and violence, not unlike our jaded youth of today who run away to foreign climes to gain infamy through terrorism.
As for the story itself, it meanders, often into unconnected areas, before coming to somewhat of a resolution in the end, and not all loose threads are tied. But then Ondaatje has his spin on the novel when he says that the first sentence of every novel should be: "Trust me, this will take time, but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town." Ondaatje even has a take on his own life as an artist when millionaire Ambrose says to Patrick, "You don't want power. You were born to be a younger brother."
A story about immigrants and their neighborhoods, and the building of the city of Toronto, about capitalists and the workers they exploit, about love and revenge, loss and recovery.
Told in a lyrical style with scenes set apart from each other yet obliquely carrying the story line, Ondaatje's novel spans the early 1900's leading up to WWII, although, surprisingly, the impact of WWI on Canada gets a pass. Patrick is a farm boy and an immigrant to the city; Nicholas is an immigrant from Macedonia, Carol is a poor girl hanging out with an enigmatic millionaire, and Alice yearns for Patrick to take notice of her - all of them in strange territory, looking for acceptance.
Two large construction projects that gave Toronto it's character anchor this novel: the Bloor Viaduct and the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, and yet the country is named Upper America, making me wonder whether "Canada" was not a good sell in publishing circles at the time of this book's publication in the '80's. Many immigrant workers gave their lives to build these two engineering landmarks and the author gives us some unforgettable images: a nun falling off the half constructed bridge and being saved, immigrant workers organizing theatre performances on the worksite to alleviate the tedium of their lives, an intruder using the intake from the lake to gain access to the water treatment plant.
There is also a lot of interesting detail, revealed in poetic prose, on dynamiting logjams, on how immigrants learn English, the Bertillon System, tunneling underwater, dye work. I would not take the trouble to read up on these subjects, but in Ondaatje's mellifluous prose they are digestible. Even the sex act is transformed into poetry rather than pornography: check out the scene where the spoils of fellatio are shared by the lovers until diminishing returns accrue in their mouths.
I found the characters somewhat unconvincing: Patrick and Caravaggio come across as poetic academics and not of their hard scrabble farm and immigrant milieus, and the women are rather flaky in their romantic loyalties despite their sturdy working class backgrounds. The author resorts to the technique (probably innovative at the time, but rather overused today) of revealing an important fact, or an inflection point, further down the story path and then following up by flashing back to how we arrived at that point, and upon reaching it, flashing forward again to the next inflection point to back track, and so on.
Union busting, worker exploitation and closing of the ranks around the economically privileged "one percent" were alive and well in the early 20th century, and with their resurgence today, make this book topical. And the workers strike back, with arson and violence, not unlike our jaded youth of today who run away to foreign climes to gain infamy through terrorism.
As for the story itself, it meanders, often into unconnected areas, before coming to somewhat of a resolution in the end, and not all loose threads are tied. But then Ondaatje has his spin on the novel when he says that the first sentence of every novel should be: "Trust me, this will take time, but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town." Ondaatje even has a take on his own life as an artist when millionaire Ambrose says to Patrick, "You don't want power. You were born to be a younger brother."
July 15, 2022
The character, Patrick, is raised in Canada's backwoods as the story opens and learns about life from his father and the lumberjacks who come to their village every winter to fell the great trees. From the Canadian wilderness, he travels to Toronto where he falls in love - the story takes you on a journey with Patrick, separately introducing you to the other characters in almost a symphonic way - each character introduced almost independently through Patrick and revealed as significant players in the larger story.
The evidence of a disturbing class system unfolds, as well. Patrick, a physical laborer, is not formally educated, so he and most of the other characters are used to serve not just their communities, but to satisfy those in power. He survives a series of extremely dangerous roles, which repeatedly put him and others in harm's way, exposed to toxic conditions.
The story is set in the context of a level of class discrimination that was reminiscent of some of the conditions in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". The author describes the context in a way that we "recognize" that the lower class are expected to serve those who are better off. Although this is part of the setting for his novel, Odaatje still weaves a magnificent and romantic tapestry with his characters in a way you won't soon forget.
The evidence of a disturbing class system unfolds, as well. Patrick, a physical laborer, is not formally educated, so he and most of the other characters are used to serve not just their communities, but to satisfy those in power. He survives a series of extremely dangerous roles, which repeatedly put him and others in harm's way, exposed to toxic conditions.
The story is set in the context of a level of class discrimination that was reminiscent of some of the conditions in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". The author describes the context in a way that we "recognize" that the lower class are expected to serve those who are better off. Although this is part of the setting for his novel, Odaatje still weaves a magnificent and romantic tapestry with his characters in a way you won't soon forget.
July 5, 2020
A complex book, lots of interior dialogue, beautiful language. From time to time, I grew impatient with the narrative, for reasons unknown, but the beauty of the writing always drew me back. Ondaatje has a unique approach to a story. One is captured by his descriptions of place, one can feel it. That makes for powerful writing.
June 7, 2020
I had some trouble keeping track of the people in this novel, which made the reading less enjoyable. But Ondaatje is such a wonderful writer and many of the stories in this book work well as stand alone pieces that stays in your memory.
June 1, 2019
not as good as his other books but the diction is similar An ok read
May 15, 2020
Wow, beautiful prose. Haunting. Relic of a time and place gone by. Canadian.
January 12, 2017
This is the first book I've read by this author. I'm not familiar with his most famous work, "The English Patient"(haven't even seen the movie), so I really didn't know what to expect.
The story was interesting, if somewhat slow paced...perhaps thats not exactly accurate. The plot moves along non-linerly, and at times seemed to jump without much warning of where we were in the story when it picked back up. And so, while the story may not always be exciting, we as the reader are never bored because we are always in a new and often intense scene.
The characters are also...interesting. Besides Patrick, the protagonist, we don't get to 'know' the other characters all that well (I suppose we do get to spend some quality time with the Thief). But that is not to say that the reader doesn't connect with the other characters. Ondaatje does an amazing job of fleshing out his characters not with history, but with how they react to the present situation. Fairly quickly, the reader understands the supporting cast.
Where I think this novel truly excels is in the setting. It is obvious that the author did a lot a of research to create the atmosphere of Toronto in the 1930's. He shows us the plight of immigrants against the backdrop of an emerging city. Focusing on the water works and viaduct construction, these two land marks are portrayed in a haunting, almost monstrous fashion.
Overall, the writing was superb. But for me, this wasn't a relaxing book. It was something I needed to pay attention to in order to understand. I need that sometimes.
The story was interesting, if somewhat slow paced...perhaps thats not exactly accurate. The plot moves along non-linerly, and at times seemed to jump without much warning of where we were in the story when it picked back up. And so, while the story may not always be exciting, we as the reader are never bored because we are always in a new and often intense scene.
The characters are also...interesting. Besides Patrick, the protagonist, we don't get to 'know' the other characters all that well (I suppose we do get to spend some quality time with the Thief). But that is not to say that the reader doesn't connect with the other characters. Ondaatje does an amazing job of fleshing out his characters not with history, but with how they react to the present situation. Fairly quickly, the reader understands the supporting cast.
Where I think this novel truly excels is in the setting. It is obvious that the author did a lot a of research to create the atmosphere of Toronto in the 1930's. He shows us the plight of immigrants against the backdrop of an emerging city. Focusing on the water works and viaduct construction, these two land marks are portrayed in a haunting, almost monstrous fashion.
Overall, the writing was superb. But for me, this wasn't a relaxing book. It was something I needed to pay attention to in order to understand. I need that sometimes.
September 4, 2012
This is the book where Hana and Caravaggio (who subsequently appeared in The English Patient) first appeared and it's told in several voices, achronologically, which I love because it makes me concentrate and also forces me to ditch my desire to know precisely what's happening and let the story come to me in waves rather than me trying to hard to know what it all means. In one of two epigraphs, Ondaatje quotes from one of the very first stories ever told, The Epic of Gilgamesh: 'The joyful will stoop with sorrow, and when you have gone to the earth I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion.'
And here's an example of Ondaatje's poetic prose that says so much more than the surface words (what a writer he is): 'Although he dynamites for the foreman [they're building a tunnel under Lake Ontario], most of the time Patrick works with the muckers in the manual digging. He is paid extra for each of the charges laid. Nobody else wants the claustrophobic uncertainty of this work, but for Patrick this part is the only ease in this terrible place where he feels banished from the world. He carries out the old skill he learned from his father - although then it had been in sunlight, in rivers, logs tumbling over themsleves slowly in the air.'
And here's an example of Ondaatje's poetic prose that says so much more than the surface words (what a writer he is): 'Although he dynamites for the foreman [they're building a tunnel under Lake Ontario], most of the time Patrick works with the muckers in the manual digging. He is paid extra for each of the charges laid. Nobody else wants the claustrophobic uncertainty of this work, but for Patrick this part is the only ease in this terrible place where he feels banished from the world. He carries out the old skill he learned from his father - although then it had been in sunlight, in rivers, logs tumbling over themsleves slowly in the air.'
March 19, 2017
I didn't like this book, but it was nice to read a novel, and I have suffered through worse. Ondaatje may make a better poet than novelist, because he certainly has a talent for lovely, transporting descriptive phrases and passages. What he doesn't appear to have a talent for is uniting those into a story; as in, I am hard-pressed to tell you what this book is about. It's about Patrick Lewis, backwoods Canadian transported to Toronto, until it's not. It's about Nicholas Temelcoff, immigrant, laborer and lifesaver, until his abrupt and nearly complete disappearing act. It's about Caravaggio the Thief, but only briefly at the end. Mainly it's numerous stories about immigrants making their lives in fast-changing interwar Toronto. As there are not many books on this topic, it's an interesting backdrop. With lovely writing. And a maddening lack of plot, improbable events and an impossible ending. I wouldn't recommend it, any more than I would The English Patient, although that at least had the discernible structure of a story. This effort is little more than hazy impressions that burn off in the sunshine, like the mists over Lake Ontario.
October 30, 2012
I think this is the 1st Ondaatje book I read. I read it several years ago.It has as its background the building of a viaduct and a water treatment plant in East Toronto in the early 20th century. In his novels, Ondaatje uses language that is poetic and, so, the writing is very beautiful. (He also wrote the wonderful "The English Patient" which was made into a film.)
If you are a Toronto resident, this book has even more resonance - the beautiful R.C. Harris Water Treatment still exists,as does the viaduct. R.C. Harris really existed and oversaw these and other projects.
It is sometimes difficult to know how much of the events in the book are fantastic and which really happened (the workers putting on performances at night in the unfinished filtration plant) but the magic of Ondaatje's writing is that he includes such things and we are drawn into his stories.
Having said that, this book can be enjoyed by anyone who loves beautiful writing, characters and plots. Great novel!
If you are a Toronto resident, this book has even more resonance - the beautiful R.C. Harris Water Treatment still exists,as does the viaduct. R.C. Harris really existed and oversaw these and other projects.
It is sometimes difficult to know how much of the events in the book are fantastic and which really happened (the workers putting on performances at night in the unfinished filtration plant) but the magic of Ondaatje's writing is that he includes such things and we are drawn into his stories.
Having said that, this book can be enjoyed by anyone who loves beautiful writing, characters and plots. Great novel!
March 20, 2015
He stands exactly where Patrick left him, thinking, as those would who believe that to continue a good dream you must lie down the next night in exactly the same position you awakened in, where the body parted from its images. Nicholas is aware of himself standing there within the pleasure of recall. It is something new to him. This is what history means. He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light. Energy poured through him. That was all he had time for in those years. Language, customs, family, salaries. Patrick's gift, that arrow into the past, shows him the wealth in himself, how he has been sewn into history. Now he will begin to tell stories. He is a tentative man, even with his family. That night in bed shyly he tells his wife the story of the nun.
Read
June 6, 2012Some lines were good, but for the most part it was a very slow read. The narration of time wasn't as prominent as it was in Divisadero.
July 22, 2013
just reread. very very good
February 22, 2015
Dreamy book. A love song dedicated to Toronto and the immigrants who built it. A good companion book is Toronto Between the Wars: Life in the City 1919-1939 by Charis Cotter.
August 16, 2015
Great book. A master piece!!! A must.
March 15, 2015
A bit dark but this is a must read. Insightful. Eye opening.
March 23, 2016
Enjoyed the writing style; it is not a style that would typically interest me. I really learned a lot about Toronto in the early 20th century. I would consider reading some of Michael's other works.
April 21, 2017
Slow start but if you stick with it the rewards of his writing are worth it. I agree with one reviewer who said this was an epic memoir of the main character....Amazing jewels tucked in these pages. Worth the early slog...
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews