chapters.indigo.ca: The English Patient: Michael Ondaatje, Ralph Fiennes: Books

About this Book

Format:Audio Book (CD)

Dimensions:5.04 x 5.84 x 0.64 in

Published:May 8, 2007

Publisher:Random House Audio Publishing Group

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:0739343947
ISBN - 13:9780739343944

From the Publisher

With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje''s Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of passion, betrayal,and rescue illuminates this book like flashes of heat lightening.

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Michael Ondaatje has published several volumes of poetry, including There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do, which consists of selections from earlier books, The Dainty Monsters (1967) and Rat Jelly (1973). Much of his poetry addresses the crossing of cultural boundaries. Ondaatje was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and moved to Canada in 1962. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a M.A. from Queen's University, Kingston, and teaches English at York University. Ondaatje's fiction and other works that defy classification by genre have also gained widespread attention. A writer quite unconcerned with typical Canadian themes, he focuses on the bizarre, which he renders through surreal, innovative techniques. For example, in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970), Ondaatje toys with various literary genres - drama, interviews, lyrics - to relate the life of that legendary figure. In Coming through Slaughter (1982), supposedly the biography of jazz musician Charles "Buddy" Bolden, Ondaatje uses Bolden's life to illustrate the artistic dichotomy of creativity and destruction. Running in the Family (1982) is a fictionalized account of Ondaatje's Ceylonese ancestors. In the Skin of a Lion (1987) dramatizes the heroic efforts of workers who construct skyscrapers.

Other Editions

Format	List Price	Online Price
Trade Paperback	$21.00	$16.80

From the Critics

"A rare and spellbinding web of dreams." -Time

"Sensuous, mysterious, rhapsodic, it transports the reader to another world . . . . Ondaatje''s most probing examination yet of the nature of identity." -San Francisco Chronicle

"Mr. Ondaatje [is] one of North America''s finest novelists . . . . The spell of his haunted villa remains with us, inviting us to reread passages for the pure pleasure of being there." -Wall Street Journal

From the Trade Paperback edition.

From The Community

Who's Listing it as a Top Ten

This title has appeared in 25 Top Ten lists. See the most recent lists below:

my top 10

Libby , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Best Books of the Last Century

Kniffer , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
If the World Stopped and I had Time to Re-read

Paula , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Top Ten

Sarah M , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
love stories

Sarah M , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Favorite Historical fiction

Sarah M , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Top 10 Books

Todd McDaniel , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
A Second List

Emma Ritchie , 15 months ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Lisa's top 10

Lisa G , 14 months ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Classics Old and New

Chelsea M. , 11 months ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Top Ten Favourite Canadian-Written Books

Amanda Larkin , 9 months ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
My Favourites

T. , 3 months ago

This list contains: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)
Judekyle's Top Ten

Brad Simkulet , 2 years ago

This list contains: The English Patient - Collector's Edition (Hardcover)
+ see more
- see less

Who's Blogging

This item has not yet appeared in a Post - be the first to post about this item!

Average Customer Rating:
Reviews from the Community11 Reviews

Write a Review

Roxanne
A thinker

This review is from: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)

8 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.
- add a comment
- Was this helpful? yes no yes no
- report this
Nina Munteanu
- Author
Exotic Tale of Forbidden Love

This review is from: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)

2 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.
- add a comment
- Was this helpful? yes no yes no
- report this
Marina
Deeper than you think...

This review is from: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)

8 years ago

Because people tend to misunderstand crucial works of art - and then talk about it when asked, I would not have picked up this novel due to some bad reviews from friends. When I needed to do a report however, I hadn't much choice. This book is misunderstood by those who do not analyze it and research its biography and details . When at times it seems not clear who is talking or who they are talking to, it is because it is meant to be that way. It is a great book that can change a reader's… + read more
- add a comment
- Was this helpful? yes no yes no
- report this
Beatrice
Inadequacy ?

This review is from: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)

8 years ago

The idea that this book represents was what really earned it all of it's recognition, the conflict that the patient faces is something that has no right or wrong answer. However, the style in which it is written, and the format, the descriptions without solid facts, the living and reliving a memory through the eyes of different people, I found that it did not appeal to me at all. It was confusing at best, so I would say if you are a very strong reader who has time to sit down and read… + read more
- add a comment
- Was this helpful? yes no yes no
- report this
Annie
Far Too Descriptive

This review is from: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)

9 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… + read more
- add a comment
- Was this helpful? yes no yes no
- report this
Sylvia H.
"The heaviness of unremembered dreams"

This review is from: The English Patient (Trade Paperback)

10 years ago

Straightforward, this novel isn't. What it is, and I love this about it, is dreamy, enchanting, and involving. I can't remember how many times I've read it, but each time I find new things to enjoy, as one might in a recurring daydream. Which is not to say that it's exactly a happy book. What always amazes me about Michael Ondaatje is how much he knows about, well, everything. Land mines. Peacock bones. Desert archaeology. You have to like someone who is so in love with knowing interesting… + read more
- add a comment
- Was this helpful? yes no yes no
- report this