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Running in the Family  By  cover art

Running in the Family

By: Michael Ondaatje
Narrated by: Michael Ondaatje
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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.

©1982 Michael Ondaatje (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

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What listeners say about Running in the Family

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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.

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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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Amazing!!

Literally the best in EVERY WAY. The authors voice and nuance, the poetic turn of the prose and the really interesting underlying stories in this personal history- make this my favorite audiobook I’ve ever listened to. A beautiful powerhouse.

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Childhood and memories of Ceylon

A beautifully written and read book by Ondaatje. Interesting about the history, complicated family, poetic.

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Perfect

Poetry meets prose. Canada enfolds Ceylon in her arms. Narrated by the author. This work is an entry drug into the sublime works of Ondaatje.

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