The English Patient in Mineola Library's 2012 FALL Reading Challenge

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Sep 11, 2018 Suzanne Moore rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-2006, 1001-2008, mooched, winter-challenge-picks, asian-american

Ondaatje writes a beautiful book, lyrical and sensual, not just a romantic tragedy, but a mystery as well. This is a post-World War II story, taking place at an abandoned villa in Italy, and involves a quartet of characters, each damaged in their own way. The mystery revolves around the identity of a burn victim, referred to as the English patient. This patient ‘fell from the sky’ when his plane crashed in the desert. Hana, a war nurse, has seen much suffering and senseless loss of life. She is Ondaatje writes a beautiful book, lyrical and sensual, not just a romantic tragedy, but a mystery as well. This is a post-World War II story, taking place at an abandoned villa in Italy, and involves a quartet of characters, each damaged in their own way. The mystery revolves around the identity of a burn victim, referred to as the English patient. This patient ‘fell from the sky’ when his plane crashed in the desert. Hana, a war nurse, has seen much suffering and senseless loss of life. She is exhausted and won't evacuate with others in her unit. She is dedicated to caring for the English patient and knows that he is too weak to survive an exodus. After the troops leave Hana behind, she is left to make do with what is on hand, scavenging the garden for edibles and passing time reading to her patient from books found in villa’s war-torn library.

Caravaggio is an intricate character, a Canadian thief working for British intelligence. He has arrived at the villa in search of Hana after hearing she stayed behind. She is the daughter of a comrade in arms, and sometimes I felt that their familiar connection would lead to romance. He is physically and emotionally damaged, sharing a morphine addiction with the patient. His physical pain is a result of having his thumbs cut off while being interrogated by Italians in Florence.

Cities throughout Italy were heavily bombed during this war. Many bombs fell from planes unexploded and others were deliberately planted, so there is a section of the story that goes into depth about bombs. The last central character, Kip, is a sapper (combat engineer) in the Indian Army assigned to the area. He has the special skill of defusing bombs. Hana is attracted to Kip and their relationship seems out of desperation. Living in this booby-trapped setting, Kip’s nerves are on edge and Hana is resigned to potential dangers. She feels most at peace with Kip, but careless about their precarious surroundings, leaving Kip to worry for the both of them.

The mystery unravels as the patient under influence of pain-easing morphine begins to talk about his past and what lead up to that fateful plane crash. Caravaggio begins to put the bits and pieces together, the more he talks, to confirm the patient’s identity. His name is Almasy and he is a desert cartographer working on the side of the Germans. Almasy’s story brings deceased characters Katharine and Geoffrey Clifton into the picture. These three were connected by love in a fatal triangle... beautiful, but sad.
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Feb 07, 2012 Lynn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-winter, 1001

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Mineola Library's 2012 FALL Reading Challenge