Running in the Family
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3 out of 5 stars
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Meh
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Transcription
- A Novel
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A very satisfying two days!
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Likened to the works of Faulkner and Dickens when it was first published 20 years ago, this extraordinarily accomplished debut novel is a brilliantly plotted story of forbidden love and piercing political drama, centered on the tragic decline of an Indian family in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Worthy Booker winner!
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Publisher's Summary
In the late 1970s Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that "pendant off the ear of India", Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family. An inspired travel narrative and family memoir by an exceptional writer.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-07-18
A deep stream...
I read this book in print many years ago, and never forgot it. When it became available on Audible, read by Ondaatje himself, I jumped on it. His reading opens quite another dimension of the book - I feel that now I can hear the voice at its heart. I remembered many images from my earlier reading - strange, ironic, often amusing - and not so amusing - vignettes from his family's story. Now I hear them again in a fresh - and in a sense a truer - light, as the author is reading.
Listening to this book is like drinking from a deep spring - something I find with all of Ondaatje's books and poems. Nourishing, inspiring, and something to keep close at hand for the duration.
7 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 01-23-20
Wanted to like it
I really wanted to like this book. I wanted to learn what life is/was like in Sri Lanka. But I could never catch hold of the narrative or follow a plot line. The book was made up of disjointed stories or snippets of memory of not just the author but his parents and grandparents too. It was so disjointed I only finished it when I gave up trying to make any sense of it and used the soothing voice of the author/narrator as background noise.
In case you're still interested, I would suggest a Sri Lanka map. The author assumes some geographic knowledge of the country and the little I did get out of some of the stories was helped greatly by my travel book for my trip to Sri Lanka in a few months.
I am sure an English professor somewhere or a more sophisticated reader would get a lot out of this book. I wish that was me, but it is not.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Earnest
- 07-30-18
Evocative, sad and elusive search for Family
Having just listened to Warlight, whose melancholy, painterly landscapes I grasped for a moment, then lost as they slipped away, I went searching for more insight.
This memoir was it.
Inchoate families abound as do children who attempt to live within them. As respectfully as possible, the author daubs another shape shifting canvas with a family fragment here, a story there and always, a heart rending use of language to paint it in.
There could not be a dry eye as one after another of the outlines of a Father not known melt away amidst time and memory.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicky
- 06-12-19
Richly Told
I was instantly absorbed in the brilliantly crafted prose of the Author's family story. Poetic & insightful grssp of the human condition. Highly recommended.