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The English Patient - Collector's Edition

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The English Patient - Collector's Edition

by Michael Ondaatje

McClelland & Stewart | July 15, 1997 | Hardcover

Michael Ondaatje's stunning novel takes place during the final moments of the Second World War. It explores the lives of four people who come together in a damaged villa in Tuscany as the war retreats around a young Canadian nurse; an enigmatic thief whose skills have made him one of the war's heroes as well as one of its casualties; a Sikh soldier in the British army; and the English patient, who lies badly burned in an upstairs room. It is his adventures and turbulent love affair in the North African desert before the war, gradually uncovered, that become the centre around which these people's past and present lives unfold.

Set mainly in Italy, this is a breathtaking story of love and passion that arcs back in time to Canada, to London during the Blitz and the intricacies of bomb disposal, and to the mysterious, often dangerous world of desert exploration.

Michael Ondaatje brings his formidable poetic and narrative powers to bear on the destiny of his characters. In luminous prose, he reveals the complex impact of public conflict on private lives.
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Reviews

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    Rating: 4/5

    Beautiful

    Willa

    5 months ago

    This is such a beautiful book. It's very well written with great imagery and is such a poignant story. A great read.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 4/5

    Exotic Tale of Forbidden Love

    Nina Munteanu

    • Author

    4 years ago

    Sensually written with vivid imagery, Ondaatje paints an exotic tale of forbidden love over a vast desert landscape and war-torn Europe. I enjoyed the multi-layered stories and how they wove into one another. There is a dream-like quality in his story-telling that is purely magical.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Roxanne

    Rating: 4/5

    A thinker

    Roxanne

    10 years ago

    Make no mistake, this book is a brilliant and beautiful piece of literature, but it's not light reading and it's not for everyone. You have to be willing to sit down and concentrate on it, or it won't do the job.
    If you do so have the inclination, I urge you to read it, and you won't regret it.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Annie

    Rating: 1/5

    Far Too Descriptive

    Annie

    11 years ago

    No offence to the author, but I really didn't like this book very much. It was far too descriptive (does a person really need to know that 18 cypress trees lined a pathway, the door was three-quartars of the way opened, etc.) and the story just dragged on and on. The only good part of the book was during the last few chapters, the rest of it wasn't very good. The story was well written, but the plot and everything else that went along with it (the characters, setting, etc.) was just plain horrible. The story was so confusing that most of the times, I had no idea who was doing the talking, but don't take my word for it, you can read the book yourself.

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From Our Editors

An unforgettable story of love and war, The English Patient is a classic. A young Canadian nurse, a Sikh bomb disposal expert, a thief turned spy, and a man burnt beyond recognition, meet in the last moments of the Second World War. The identity of the patient is the heart of the story as he tells his memories of a doomed love affair in the North African desert. Love and passion are set against the devastation of war in this inspired novel.

From the Publisher

Michael Ondaatje's stunning novel takes place during the final moments of the Second World War. It explores the lives of four people who come together in a damaged villa in Tuscany as the war retreats around a young Canadian nurse; an enigmatic thief whose skills have made him one of the war's heroes as well as one of its casualties; a Sikh soldier in the British army; and the English patient, who lies badly burned in an upstairs room. It is his adventures and turbulent love affair in the North African desert before the war, gradually uncovered, that become the centre around which these people's past and present lives unfold.

Set mainly in Italy, this is a breathtaking story of love and passion that arcs back in time to Canada, to London during the Blitz and the intricacies of bomb disposal, and to the mysterious, often dangerous world of desert exploration.

Michael Ondaatje brings his formidable poetic and narrative powers to bear on the destiny of his characters. In luminous prose, he reveals the complex impact of public conflict on private lives.

About the Author

Michael Ondaatje is the author of the internationally celebrated novels In the Skin of a Lion, The English Patient, and, most recently, Anil's Ghost. His other books include Running in the Family, Coming Through Slaughter, The Cinnamon Peeler, and Handwriting. Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka, and came to Canada in 1962.

He lives in Toronto.

Edition Details

1992 Booker Prize Co-Winner

Hardcover

320 Pages, 5.9 x 8.5 x 1 in

July 15, 1997

McClelland & Stewart

English


0771068751
9780771068751

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From the Critics

"The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje wears the triple crown: it is profound, beautiful and heart-quickening."
-Toni Morrison

"There are books that change the shape of literature.…The English Patient is such a book."
-Books in Canada

"A magic carpet ride of a novel that soars across worlds and times.…A rare and spellbinding net of dreams."
-Pico Iyer, Time

"An exotic, consuming, and richly inspired novel of passion."
-Richard Ford

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