Anil's Ghost gets five stars from me because it's beautiful. Ondaatje's prose, the nuances he affects as well as the information that he does not give us lend magic to this glimpse into the lives of a few people during Sri Lanka's civil war. Sometimes, people need to invent endings to make peace and move on--and Mr. Ondaatje requires his readers to do that a bit here, as well. I care enough about the characters to be able to do that for them.