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About This Book:

Title: Anil's Ghost



Amazon Customer Reviews:
Average rating:    Based on 174 reviews

   Good Look Inside Sri Lanka
Anil's Ghost: A Novel

Just finished reading my new (own now library's) copy of this book, and enjoyed it even more this second time around.

Living near Toronto, as I do, which has the largest Tamil (SriLankan) community outside Sri Lanka, this culture is much part of our daily life. Currently, local Tamils are protesting to force Canada's greater involvement in resolving the conflict in SL.

Anil's Ghost gives an insider's albeit non-Tamil view, I believe, of some of the background that feeds the conflict. That it has been ongoing for decades shames us all. Violence is really not an answer; it just begets more violence.

After visiting Sri Lanka during a calm, ceasefire spell, I was much taken with the gentle Sri Lankans, and cannot reconcile that persona with the barbarism Ondaatje describes in this book.

The Sri Lankans I know here in Canada are similarly gentle, yet when the protesters here become violent, and involve/include women and children in their demonstrations, it leaves a bad taste.

The thing about living in Canada is, we welcome mostly one and all, but leave your conflicts back in your homeland and make a fresh start here. But when our media reports innocent civilian deaths, we should all step in to say, "Stop!"

For a good background into recent Sri Lankan life, read this book. As for a clear right-or-wrong decision on the conflict, this book will not give any answers. But it will give you food for thought, and that is what a good book and good author should do.
(05/13/2009)

   Listen to this
The only literary experience that can top reading Ondaatje's prose poetry is listening to Alan Cumming read it.

I practically drove off the road several times while listening to this Audio CD set, just gasping in awe at the beauty and languor and depth revealed in each chapter.

It is hard to describe Ondaatje. His writing must be experienced. Come with mind open, and you will be rewarded and enriched.

(05/02/2009)

   Beautiful language, but strangely distant
While the poetic style is still present, the story is less involving then it should be. ANIL'S GHOST does not capture the reader the way The English Patientdoes. Sri Lanka is the locale for this tale, an examination of the country's brutal civil war and the role a returning expatriate forensic anthropologist, Anil, plays in the examination of what could prove to be a politically motivated murder. The real problem with the novel relates to the flashback style Ondaatje used to such good effect in THE ENGLISH PATIENT. Here these departures do not involve the reader; they tend to move away from the central plot to such an extent that you almost get the feeling that Ondaatje has lost interest in Anil and her role in this book. While often intriguing, these side trips do not tie together as well as you would hope and Anil becomes lost in the mix. Perhaps it is appropriate that the plot get lost in the chaos of civil war and perhaps that is the point, but it left this reader emotionally detached from what should have been an arresting book.
(10/10/2008)

   Unsuccessful
Ondaatje is a bit of a mystery to me - I hated "The English Patient" but loved "Running in the Family", so I was expecting to have a strong reaction - one way or the other - to "Anil's Ghost". Unfortunately, that was not the case. The narrative is fractured - on purpose - which I felt detracted from the story even if it added some stylistic symbolism.

For some reason, Ondaatje is not able to capture the human horror of his subject matter adequately in words - and perhaps no one could - but the powerful topic he was writing about was simply not captured in his tepid and detached, though ultimately very readable tone.

Still - it was a decent read - and I do not think there are very many writers who could have done a better job with the subject. Some history, I suppose, is so horrid as to be beyond the reach of mere words.
(03/23/2008)

   Beautiful
I love this book. Michael Ondaatje writes about loss and grief and passion, and he does it with devastating quietness. This is a beautiful book, and one I have returned to again and again.
(01/20/2008)



Book Details Summary: The title of this book is Anil's Ghost and it was written by Michael Ondaatje. This edition of Anil's Ghost is in a Audio Cassette format. This books publish date is May 2000 and it has a suggested retail price of $26.95. There are pages in the book and it was published by Books on Tape, Inc.. The 10 digit ISBN is 0736650741 and the 13 digit ISBN is 9780736650748. For the most current lowest price, Click Here.