“The English Patient”

Since this was awarded the Golden Booker this year (ostensibly the best of 50-years of Man-Booker winners), I decided it was time to read it. This is such an interesting WWII novel for many reasons. All of the characters are outsiders (a Canadian girl, a thief, an Indian man) who find themselves fighting for Britain in Italy. The prose is beautiful, the characters complex and evolving, the narrative compelling and unconventional. 

Ondaatje provides a profound glimpse into the absurdity of war and the ways that national ties can deeply (mis)shape us. He tells us a story of people fighting to recover some grip on reality after a war that stripped their world of all meaning (a process with which we are still struggling as a society). I very much recommend this novel, and I look forward to seeing the film adaptation.