Anil’s Ghost really is haunting. I finished it a couple days ago and it’s still with me. Of course, I read In The Skin Of A Lion and that’s still with me too. Michael Ondaatje is one of my favourite authors. I know when I pick up one of his novels, I will not be disappointed.
The reader really feels for Anil. She’s so displaced from her heritage. She just got out of a destructive relationship. She is unsure of her relationship with her “best” friend. She comes to a country that should feel like home and she feels like a foreigner; Anil is foreigner wherever she goes. The story is so intense and mysterious. The ending leaves so many questions.
Something I really liked about Michael Ondaatje’s writing is the way he introduced new characters to the storyline. It was done it through the whole book, but I only became consciously aware of it when he introduced Gamini. Instead of having a character come into the story, then give the reader a little back ground on him, Ondaatje gives each supplementary character their own little story. Before Anil and Sarath come across Gamini, we learn about him in a separate chapter. I noticed this too with the introduction of Palipana, but only with Gamini did I realize he was consistently doing this.
I wonder how the Sri Lankan government responded to this novel…
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