Okay, “Anil’s Ghost” isn’t “The English Patient”, but then is Michael Ondaatje ever going to be able to replicate TEP? Having said that, “Anil’s Ghost” is still a splendid book and, in trademark style, Ondaatje keeps us guessing as to the true motivation of one of the major characters right until the end.
I was struck not only by the writing (of course!) but by the depth of knowledge on show. The brutal and somehow random nature of the Sri Lankan civil war was probably never so well portrayed in fiction. The research must have taken an age; no wonder the bibliography at the end is so long!
Certainly worth reading – but a book to be patient with… Pun intended…
Ian Gouge - Writer 