I really liked the movie adaptation of The English Patient, and the original Booker Prize winning novel was part of the Picador Thirty set that included Foetal Attraction and American Psycho, so I picked it up next. The book tells the story of a group of people inhabiting a deserted hospital in Italy at the end of World War Two, including an Indian sapper, a Canadian nurse, a thief and the titular burns victim.
brilliant...but...
It took me some time to get to grips with this novel, and Ondaatje's fractured style - passages pass backwards and forwards in time, telling different characters' stories, and it's not always easier to work out either time or person. Over halfway through I started to enjoy it as the narrative became easier to follow and backstories unravelled. Although I seem to remember the movie being more about the English Patient and his tragic backstory, the book is as much about every other character as him. I actually found Kip, the Indian sapper, and his story more interesting, bringing with it interesting perspectives on the war and indeed on the British 'occupation' of his home country. This isn't a book I would recommend easily, I'd start with the movie first, whereas Andrew's just finished the hilarious Foetal Attraction on my recommendation.
briefly...
Too stylised to enjoy initially, The English Patient eventually becomes a touching set of character pieces interwoven with historical accuracy.
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