The English Patient by Michael OndaatjeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
"She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others... her body full of sentences and moments, as if awakening from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams."
MY REACTION TO THIS BOOK EXACTLY. This is poetic storytelling at the highest level, insert all the superlatives here. You MUST experience it for yourselves to learn how heartbreaking beauty can be.
I don't think I've ever been compelled to watch the movie IMMEDIATELY after finishing the book, in the same way I was seized with urgency by this masterpiece.
There are two pairs of lovers caught in two timelines, less than a decade apart, one at the start and the other pair finding each other at the end of World War II. It tells of quiet moments before and in between chaos, silent oases where people celebrate life and love however they can, with more information on WWII bombs and mines, and desert geography, than I've ever encountered before.
It is simultaneously an anti-war tract, a warning against excessive passion, a tribute to life-giving affection, but above all ONE MAGIC CARPET RIDE over the Saharan desert.
Both are absolutely beautiful. Deserving of all the awards. But be warned: both will break your heart.
It's been two days since I've finished it and I'm still torn up inside about it!! Perhaps I ought to stop listening to the breathtaking Gabriel Yared soundtrack, with its echoes of Bach, still remembering how sensual some of the scenes were and mulling over the impossibility of perfect love.
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