The English Patient

by Michael Ondaatje

No cover — Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient (2001, Bt Bound)

Library Binding

English language

Published March 3, 2001 by Bt Bound.

ISBN:: 978-0-613-02528-7

(27 reviews)

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 illuminate this book like flashes of heat lightning

40 editions

Oier Gorosabel Larrañaga reviewed El paciente inglés by Michael Ondaatje (Jet de Plaza & Janés -- 329)

Ez dok neretako

2 stars

Puf! Banekan amaitzeko gogua (eta hori txarra dok, liburu baten gaiñian gabizela). Lehenago esandako moduan, etxakixat itzulpen arazua dan edo zer: baiña idazteko era erratikua, eta zatikatua, desatsegiña egin jatak. Gerria kaosa dok, ados: baiña ño, liburu bat idazten gabizenian, ba gauzak pixkat ordenatzia be etxagok txarto. ·Edo pixkat azaltzia behintzat! (zer da, liburu amaieran, Almasyren oiñetan agertzen dan "keriza illun" hori?). Lau pertsonaje dakaguz, bakotxa bere bizipenekin; euretako biren historian sakontzen da (asko bez) eta beste bixak, ostera, ixa ez doguz ezagutzen. Hori nere lehelengo inpresiñua. Oin interneten pixkat begiratzera najoiak, ia liburuak nik harrapau ez dittudazen birtudiak ete dakazen (hori be izan lajeikek eta). Eta pelikulia be ikusi biako juau, noski.

PD: ba bai, ni baiño garun jasuaguendako mamin asko ei jaukak nobelionek. Metafisika (historia, gorputza eta naziotasun kontzeptuei aplikauta), oroimena, Herodoto eta II Mundu Gerra. Azkena kenduta, neretako baiño gehixagoko gauzak. Gaiñera, beste aurreko liburu baten jarraipena …

Bridgman reviewed The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Review of 'The English Patient' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

If you loved this book because of its intricate, layered way to tell a story and its evocative, dense, dreamlike poetic prose, it means that you are far smarter than I am.
In my case, I found it a slog. It feels that there has never been a time in my life when I was not reading The English Patient.
A friend of mine reads books sitting at a desk. That to me is studying, but my friend likes genuinely literary fiction (I just think I do) so it makes sense in her case. For some books I've used an index card as a bookmark and written things on it to help me keep track. I should have done that for this one. If you're reading it and finding it hard to get through, consider looking it up on sparknotes.com. The chapter summaries there are clear and useful. I should have gone there from the start. As it was, I went when I was just a few chapters from finishing it, so my main reaction to what I read there was things like, "Ohhh. That's the guy they're were talking about this whole time."
I hope anything I've said doesn't discourage anyone from reading it. It's beautifully written; I'm just too dumb to appreciate it. Much of the reason I read it is that it was a favorite of my late mother's. Realizing she understood and loved this book gave me a new jolt of respect for her intelligence and taste in literature.