The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The English Patient
Book Review: Timeless
Summary: 5 Stars
A book to capture the spirit of all the world's people.Book Review: Wonderful Storytelling
Summary: 4 Stars
As a great fan of the film,and reading the book afterwards I find it in some ways more enjoable as others a little less so. On the plus side there is much more detail, depth and space given to the films lesser characters, in particular Kip and Crevaggio. This makes the story much more understandable.
The only difficulty if it is one, is that the central performances in the film of Fiennes, Scott-Thomas and Binoche are so strong and memorable and the film itself so evocative that you find yourself drifting in and out of the book to and from the film. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it just makes the book more difficult to judge in isolation.
The passages of dialogue between the English Patient and the others are sublime, especially his recollections of the desert.
At the very least it makes me want to read Heroditus.
Book Review: A beautiful book
Summary: 5 Stars
See the film, but do read the book, as both are just magnificent.
I especially like the character, Kip. the Indian sapper, who listens to music while defusing bombs: 'Noise did not matter. There would be no faint tickings or clickings to signal danger on this kind of bomb. The distraction of music helped him towards clear thought, to the possible forms of structure in the mine, to the personality that had laid the city of threads and then poured wet concrete over it'.
There is so much in this book: Romance; the beauty of the desert; a spy story; archaeology; and much more below the surface.
Book Review: Sublime.
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked this book up after watching the film on television, and read it in a day.
The English Patient is not only the story of the burned "English Patient" and his tragic love affair with the wife of a colleague, but the stories of Hana, a nurse who is caring for him, a crippled thief, David Caravaggio, and a Sikh, Kip, who is part of a bomb-disposal unit, drawn together in an old bombed hospital in Italy.
The story switches between these characters; we are allowed into the minds of all of them, and hear their stories. The book is written in beautiful, evocative prose, reading almost like a poem rather than a novel, but never descending into the region of overly descriptiveness and boring the reader.
As for a comparison to the film; I think it's much more interesting. For a start, there isn't so much focus on the love affair between Almasy and Katherine Clifton; we are allowed to see much deeper into the stories of the other characters.
In short, the prose is breathtakingly beautiful, and is held together by an entertaining and emotional plot. If you have not read this book already, do so.
Book Review: not bad, nothing like the film though.
Summary: 3 Stars
I watched the film and thought it was brilliant so I read the book and was disappointed. It is written beautifully but it was just so different to what I expected.
SPOILERS
The main story is all about Kip, then Hana and then their relationship, the actual English patient features very little throughout the book to the point that I was wondering why the book is called The English Patient. His relationship with Katherine only takes up a few pages.
It is a good book and I liked the story but if you've seen the film first, don't expect much of it to be in this book. I actually prefered the film.