'Anil's Ghost' by Michael Ondaatje

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I've just finished this book, and my brain is still rather clogged up with stray thoughts that I haven't processed yet, so I apologise if this review isn't very coherent.

First of all, I want to say that 'Anil's Ghost' is an amazing book. It is really really really good - the kind of good that gets inside your heart and your head and leaves you feeling slightly breathless after each chapter. The second thing I'd like to say is that this isn't an easy read. Michael Ondaatje started out as a poet, I believe, and like many poets, it shows in his writing. He writes through imagery, through capturing individual moments. His writing style isn't exactly linear, and his stories tend to twist and turn around in time, as if caught by some kind of current.

'Anil's Ghost' is the story of Sri Lanka and the turmoil it went through in the late 1980s and 1990s. It's told mostly from the point of view of Anil Tissera (who I speculated might be Burgher all the way through, as her narrative - the timeframe she left Sri Lanka, her relationship with the Sinhalese language, the places she lived - sounds so like the stories/nostalgia I've heard from my Burgher family, but from her surname is probably Colombo Chetty.) who is an ex-pat returning back to Sri Lanka as a forensic archaeologist. The basic plotline - finding a recent body where one shouldn't be - could come from a Kathy Reichs or Patricia Cornwall novel, but in the hands of Michael Ondaatje, it becomes something far more. It is a novel about Sri Lanka and its history, about the inhumanity that man can perform upon man, and it’s also about family and about belonging. All the characters in this novel are trying to figure out where they belong, and I don’t think any entirely resolve this central question.

It’s not an easy read. I read it in small doses, pausing after most chapters just to get everything straight in my head, and clear my thoughts. It is, however, incredibly rewarding. It is unflinching in its examination of all the terrible events it looks at, yet also compassionate and insightful. It’s the best thing I’ve read from Michael Ondaatje, and as I’m a huge fan, that is saying something.

I want to recommend it unconditionally, but I suspect it isn’t for everyone. It’s heavy going in places, and the prose can be quite dense. The lack of resolution may bother others – a lot is left unsaid at the end of the novel, and that may bother some readers, although I thought it was well done – the lack of resolution seemed to be there to make a specific point about normal western treatment of eastern problems. One of the characters even comments that nearly every western movie about the east ends with the hero getting on a plane.

However, if you do feel like a read that will make you think, and which is beautifully written, then I do recommend ‘Anil’s Ghost’ entirely. It’s a fantastic book, with Michael Ondaatje at his very best.

Comments

[mllesays.livejournal.com]

Anil's Ghost is one of my favorite novels. I read it in the opposite way you did, very quickly, letting all the images wash over me. As a result, I don't remember much about the plot details now, but I do remember how heartwrenching the novel became as I got further and further into it. I think I'd like to go back and reread it now slowly, to retain more of the plot.

Also, I believe Ondaatje is Burgher and Colombo Chetty (or the Sri Lankan side of his family is). Is it possible that Anil shares this heritage?

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

*nods* I knew Ondaatje was Burgher, and I think I found out quite recently that he had Colombo Chetty heritage as well, so you may well be right. It's also possible he has done what most authors do and put some of his own memories/stories into Anil.

I was incredibly amused by the story of the boys sneaking into the grounds of Ladies College in the book, mostly because it sounds so similar to a story that my grandmother (who taught at Ladies College in the 1930s-1940s) used to tell, and it made me wonder if he had added in a story he had heard in his own youth.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Anil's Ghost is my favorite Ondaatje book; I think in some ways it's more accessible than his others even while being, as you say, not an easy read. The characters are so rich: complex and conflicted, and their actions make sense in the context, even when disturbing. Maybe especially when the context is so disturbing. He doesn't gloss over anything.

You've made me want to re-read it. Thank you.

[arantzain.livejournal.com]

I'll buy on this recommendation: thank you!

[lyras.livejournal.com]

I loved Anil's Ghost, although I felt when I reached the end that I hadn't quite understood everything Ondaatje was getting at. Thanks for the reminder - I might have to reread soon!