About this title: This novel about an immigrant's surreal adventures in Toronto includes characters who reappear in Ondaatje's novel THE ENGLISH PATIENT: the orphan Hana and the thief Caravaggio.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limited
ISBN-13:9780394281827ISBN:0394281829
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limited
ISBN-13:9780394281827ISBN:0394281829
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Edition: First Trade
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780679772668ISBN:0679772669
Description: Good. 0679772669 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall Ex-Library The covers have light edge wear. The only library mark is a stamp on the first page with a number. read more
"I learned, again, why I love to read his fiction: he's more a poet than a novelist and the fresh language and images he creates over and over in his fiction enchants me. I'd not realized this book was a prequel to The English Patient. One meets the characters Caravaggio and Hana here. Throughout I sensed a fierceness in his intent: to make clear the histories of the immigrants who built Toronto while the bureaucrats took credit for their difficult and dangerous work. My favorite moment of the book was when i realized who Alice Gull was!"
"I really enjoyed this book. Sometimes it's annoying with Ondaatje plays with time and memory but other than that it's really quite enjoyable. I liked the characters and how they all had an interesting story to them and none of them were overtly put in as simply filler. Being from Toronto I also liked how I was able to recognize places and things from he book. I'd recommend this if your interested in Canadian LIt. It's not overly Canadian but it does have elements to it."
"This book is the first pick of my new book group. Today was a rainy cool day so while the rest of my family watched hockey I quietly read this book and finished it.
On one hand it's a fast read, but then it's also filled with buried details and dream images that makes me want to start back on page 1 tomorrow. The main character is Patrick Lewis, an immigrant who worked in Toronto in the 1920's. It chronicles the difficult and unsafe conditions that immigrants worked under while building Toronto, and the wealthy businessmen that profited from them. Just a beautiful written book that begs to be reread.
Quote from the book - "The joyful will stoop with sorrow, and when you have gone to the earth I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion.""
"I checked this one out after hearing about it on NPR (of course). It was featured in "You Must Read This" on All Things Considered.
I've always liked Ondaatje, but haven't read him in a while.It was interesting to see the young Hana and Caravaggio and I immediately had to start re-reading The English patient after finishing this one."
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