From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

The English Patient

Michael Ondaatje

Start date: July 1, 2015

Finish date: July 31, 2015

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: World Literature Group Read (North Africa) - July 2015
[close] World Literature Group Read (North Africa) - July 2015

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 3 of 3 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 11, 2011 Wendy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, literary-fiction, world-war-ii, vcfa-reading, audiobooks, booker-prize

I don't regret spending time listening to this book--I'm very slowly working my way through the "1001 Books to Read Before you Die" list--although audiobook may not be the best medium for this very confusing, convoluted story. The narrator barely pauses between sections where, as a reader, you would see blank space between paragraphs denoting some sort of slip in time and space. I picked up a paperback copy of the book so I could turn back and reread portions that had left me confused, but for t I don't regret spending time listening to this book--I'm very slowly working my way through the "1001 Books to Read Before you Die" list--although audiobook may not be the best medium for this very confusing, convoluted story. The narrator barely pauses between sections where, as a reader, you would see blank space between paragraphs denoting some sort of slip in time and space. I picked up a paperback copy of the book so I could turn back and reread portions that had left me confused, but for the most part I hadn't missed much--and was still confused.

Also, while I crave complex characters and a rip-roaring story, nothing really happens here! Even what should be exciting sequences are narrated exposition-style by one of the characters (and why do they all speak in the same affected overly-erudite manner?). The tiny amount of tension that exists is based on the assumption that the reader is curious about the English patient's back story, which is then revealed in small portions that seem to just repeat over and over, the same information but with new flowery descriptions. I've never seen the film, but I can't begin to imagine how this could ever translate to the screen without rewriting the plot.

With the exception of the Indian sapper Kip, the characters left me cold. The two women in the story, Hana and Katherine, may as well be the same person, for all the character distinction they show. They struck me as just objects for the men to focus on and react to, and the overall feel of the novel was of a masculine melodrama romance novel...(sort of like All the Pretty Horses, come to think of it, though that one actually did have an interesting story). By the end, I felt like this should have been Kip's story--the cutaway sections about his training in England, and the culture-shock he experiences, are by far the most interesting parts--but by the time something interesting happens to his character near the end, I felt like he hadn't been built up to enough to produce maximum dramatic impact.

Too bad, as there are some lovely "frozen-moment" images of disaster (a motorcycle suspended in mid-air, a plane crash), but the romance/love scenes are too cringe-worthy, the characters not fleshed out or interesting enough to drive what should be a character-driven story. At some point nurse Hana asks "What does it matter where the English patient really comes from? What difference does it make?" Exactly. ...more

1 like · Like · see review