Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The English Patient: Winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize
    Unavailable
    The English Patient: Winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize
    Unavailable
    The English Patient: Winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize
    Ebook303 pages6 hours

    The English Patient: Winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize

    By Michael Ondaatje

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    WINNER OF THE GOLDEN MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018

    'Magnificent' Sunday Times

    'The best piece of fiction I've read in years' Independent on Sunday

    The final curtain is closing on the Second World War and in an abandoned Italian village. Hana, a nurse, tends to her sole remaining patient. Rescued from a burning plane, an anonymous Englishman is damaged beyond recognition and haunted by painful memories.

    The only clue Hana has to unlocking his past is the one thing he clung on to through the fire – a copy of The Histories by Herodotus, covered with hand-written notes detailing a tragic love affair.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJan 3, 2011
    ISBN9781408820384
    Unavailable
    The English Patient: Winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize
    Author

    Michael Ondaatje

    Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka and lives in Toronto.  The English Patient won the Booker Prize in 1992 and was made into an Oscar-winning film directed by Anthony Minghella.

    Read more from Michael Ondaatje

    Related to The English Patient

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Me, Myself, and You: Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’

      Apr 15, 2019

      In her latest novel, Rooney suggests that individual identity is actually a microcosmic social structure, made up of webbed relationships and collective agreements. The post Me, Myself, and You: Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’ appeared first on The Mi

      6 min read

    • Article

      First Novel Translated From Hindi Wins International Booker Prize

      May 26, 2022

      Geetanjali Shree’s “extremely exuberant and incredibly playful” Tomb of Sand, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, has won the International Booker prize, becoming the first novel translated from Hindi to do so. Shree and Rockwell winning the £50

      2 min read

    • Article

      HELLO! Magazine

      Oct 30, 2023

      FOUNDER Eduardo Sánchez Junco CHAIRMAN & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Eduardo Sánchez Pérez CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Javier Junco Aguado CREATIVE BRAND AMBASSADOR Rosie Nixon EDITOR Thomas Whitaker DEPUTY EDITOR Alexandra Wilby ACTING DEPUTY EDITOR Belinda Robe

      1 min read

    • Article

      In Love And War

      Jun 10, 2021

      April 1943 - Krakow, Poland Irena was bent over her needlework, stitching the frayed seam of her skirt when she heard a single gunshot ring out. She jerked and then scowled. After four years of war, she ought to be used to it. Why, the other night a

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Glove

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Glove
      8 min read

    • Article

      Flood The World With Beauty

      Nov 1, 2019

      A big literary conference is probably not the best place for a poet dealing with a mental breakdown. But there I was at AWP, skittishly perusing tables at the book fair, under the garish lights of the Minneapolis Convention Center. For two years, par

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Corridor Stories

      Sep 1, 2022

      The Corridor Stories
      5 min read

    • Article

      Cherubs

      Jul 5, 2023

      Cherubs
      10 min read

    • Article

      Cain’s Feast

      Sep 15, 2022

      Cain’s Feast
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Living Days

      Nov 4, 2019

      The Living Days
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jason R Jimenez

      Dec 10, 2019

      Can you imagine a world without frogs? Or even less of them? What is the night without a symphony of croaks? I want to ask that to everyone. The post A Year in Reading: Jason R Jimenez appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Coordination

      Mar 15, 2019

      Once, I was asked to be on the organizing committee for the Buenos Aires Book Fair and to coordinate a roundtable discussion among writers. The topic had already been chosen: rural and urban literature. The invitation was printed on the letterhead of

      4 min read

    • Article

      This One So Loved

      May 9, 2019

      This One So Loved
      9 min read

    • Article

      Silence and Air Raids

      Nov 25, 2022

      Silence and Air Raids
      14 min read

    • Article

      Venice Peach

      Oct 2, 2023

      1. THE DRESSMAKER AND THE HIDDEN SOLDIER by Doug Gold (A&U) WWII thriller about Kiwi soldier and Greek dressmaker 2. SUMMER FAVOURITES by Vanya Insull (A&U) Recipes from @vj_cooks 3. TE REO KAPEKAPE: Māori Wit and Humour by Hona Black (Oratia) Having

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble Gene

      Jul 1, 2020

      One clear thing about trouble—it can set you back to zero, a personal cone of silence. And reading, writing, listening allow entry into that troubled solitude; you disappear into it regardless t of the time or place you really are in, be it bed, kitc

      12 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The English Patient

    4/5

    103 ratings85 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      This book didn't really do it for me. While it attempted to be literary and poignant, I felt that it got lost along the way. There were some nice phrases and poetic passages, but apart from this I ultimately felt let down as a reader. I wouldn't really recommend the book, it did not hold significant value in my eyes.

      2 stars.
    • 1/5
      I strongly recommend reading this if you want a solid sample of how to do a multiple points of view narration style. This is however the only thing I can recommend it for.

      I had to read this for a class. it deals with heavy subject matter including PTSD and war. I found myself really struggling through it.
    • 2/5
      I bought this at a university library in Rome. My holiday had been wonderful but alas I had exhausted my reading cache. I had been deeply in love with the film, had seen twice at the theatres back in States. I even attempted a third viewing in the Eternal City but alas it was dubbed into Italian. Shame. I found the novel somewhat shallow. I wound up borrowing Turgenev's Fathers and Sons for the flight home. I remain sure that the novel isn't as bad as I'm reflecting such.
    • 4/5
      I am rather late coming to this one. I have never seen the film adaptation so I was able to approach this book "sight unseen". A wonderful story and yet, so difficult to review. As with most character-driven stories, the pacing here is languid. Everything seems to happen at half speed, as if moving through liquid. The story is not designed to be rushed through. It is to be slowly savored. Ondaatje's prose is lush and sensual. Our four characters are windows into damaged souls of war-ravaged individuals, with each one seeking, in their own way, release/redemption and the courage to try and pick up the war shattered pieces of their lives.Overall, a beautiful, haunting story set at the tail end of World War II.
    • 5/5
      An amazing book. I'd definately recommend this too people, especially since I finished it in under three days. Parts of it were a little confusing just because of the fact that it jumped back and forth through people's perspectives, but other than that the story was amazing. Sad, happy, and inlightening all in on. Michael Ondaatje puts you into the time period, right after the second World War. The English patient's unknown identity only adds to the drama of a mystery. I loved it. I'm so happy I finished the book, because now I can watch the movie! :)
    • 5/5
      I loved the movie, and have long wanted to read the book, so when Michael Ondaatje won the best book that has ever been awarded the Man Booker Prize in the fifty years since it's been in place, I decided I had better read it. I read a lot of reviews about it over the years and the ratings surprisingly were all over the place from 1 to 5 stars. I went into the book with an open mind, and knowing that the movie was incredible, I was excited to read the book. It blew me away. There is much here for a reader to savour - from a love story, to a mystery, to tragic losses, but the language is so incredibly descriptive, and the characters so well drawn right from beginning to end, that the transition from different points of view to different places and varying chronological times throughout, the book and its storyline were seamless, held together by absolutely beautiful language. The book is set in a bombed out nunnery which had been used for a hospital during the war, and it is located in Italy. The ruined building is abandoned except for a Canadian nurse and the patient she refuses to leave. The patient is so badly burned that he is not recognizable, and he needs a lot of care as well as morphine regularly to relieve the pain. Hana thinks the man is English because of his accent. Two other people join them at the nunnery - an East Indian sapper and a man from Hana's past who was renowned as a successful thief before the war. All four had served in various positions during WWII which has just has come to an end in Europe. All four are suffering from some form of PTSD, and all four are trying to find a place of peace after the horrendous things that they have either done or witnessed during that war. Ondaatje shows the true horror of war even as he maintains his beautiful and lyrical language throughout. Even though the English patient never leaves his sickroom, he drives the plot in this book. His secrets and thoughts come out bit by bit throughout the book, mostly in conversations between him and one or more of the three others in the house. His story is tragic, gut-wrenching and surprising, but in some way, helps to heal the three other residents. This book is a definite literary masterpiece. A tour de force.
    • 4/5
      Haven't seen the movie, but liked the book well enough. Ondaatje's books are always so different from one another.
    • 5/5
      Sigh. Now THIS is a love story.
    • 4/5
      A lyrical, poetic book about the entanglement of four damaged lives in an Italian monastery as World War II ends. The exhausted nurse, Hana; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip; and the English patient, the nameless, burn victim who lies in an upstairs room and remembers stories of passion, betrayal, and rescue. Beautifully and evocatively written but slow at times.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful , tragic, what else ... Great book but if you enjoy hist FIC or romance, this has everything in spades.
    • 2/5
      I liked it in some ways and not others. I found the flow too jumpy to keep my interest. That was deliberate, of course, to create the dreamlike, otherwordly effect but it was distracting to me as I tried to engage with the characters.
    • 5/5
      Honestly, I could go on and on about how much I love this book, but I'm going to try to keep this short by doing the biggest favor I can do this book: clear up the misconceptions surrounding it.This book is not chick lit or romance. It's about people coming together in a time of war (a nurse, a Count, a Sikh sapper, and a morphine addicted thief/spy. No, this is not the beginning of a joke). The aspects I found most interesting were the parts dealing with African exploration and sapping (dismantling bombs and mines). In fact, this book led me to want to read more about World War II.But the highlight is Ondaatje's writing. I have never encountered such a fantastic example of poetic prose. And the author has an uncanny ability to describe small moments that most of us don't even notice we're noticing (I swear, it makes sense).So, to anyone who would be put off this book on account of preconceived notions (thank you again, Hollywood), just give it a chance. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
    • 5/5
      One of the most thought provoking books I've read. Lyrical and intense.
    • 2/5
      The language is spare and glorious, and I can see how many people fell in love with this book, but I cannot say I enjoyed it. How characters were brought together on whim and scattered like leaves, as if humans can only be impressions on one another. Is that really life? It makes me want to end it.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. It is the exact kind of mystery that intrigues me. I've read it twice and the second time was even better than the first. One of my all time favorites. The movie is great also.
    • 4/5
      This novel still remains a bit of a puzzle to me, even after I have finished it. Like Harris' Chocolat, the novel not only left a lot to be desired but also completely defied my expectations - but not necessarily in a bad way. The book overall was intriguing, with Kip being a favorite. In the end, I'm still puzzled though...
    • 5/5
      Better than the film in so very many ways.
    • 3/5
      I disliked this book so much that I kept misplacing it "accidentally." My 10-year pointed out the fact that it seemed I was losing it and not trying very hard to find it, and maybe I was doing it on purpose. I am not sure why I responded to it the way I did. It had a real emotional void that left me weary, and ultimately uninterested. I am not one to find books dull, but this one was for me.It is well written from a stylistic standpoint, but it was so blinking dull from an emotional level. The three stars are representative of my appreciation of his craft, not my liking of the book. It wasn't it; it was me. We were a bad match.
    • 2/5
      I found this too slow-moving for my tastes -- it bored me so much that by the time anything interesting started to happen, I no longer cared.This book had been on my shelf so long that I thought I had already read it, so I started it the other day thinking it would be a reread. By the time I reached Chap. 2 I realized that I never read this, just watched the movie.
    • 5/5
      This is a wonderful book. Ondaatje unveils his story one thin layer at a time. He exposes this story like a fog slowly burning out of a valley until the details of the landscape are exposed to sun.
    • 4/5
      This is the last of the texts I read with my students this semester. When I first read The English Patient in my late teens (and fresh from having seen the movie), I loved it. I was completely wrapped up in the poetry of the language and the romanticism of the desert and of the villa in Italy. So I was surprised to find myself growing impatient with the prose and annoyed by the novel's refusal to make the characters real rather than like ethereal dream figures. Maybe this just isn't a book I was meant to reread, or maybe I just read it at exactly the right time the first time.
    • 5/5
      One of those reads that gets you so emotionally attatched that you could even call it magical. Mmmm so good. The film was very very bad!
    • 4/5
      Deeply moving, this story will draw you in from the begining. Makes you truely understand that the human heart is a complex "organ of fire." My only disappointment? I couldn't help hoping for more for Hana and Kip.
    • 5/5
      A most loved book!
    • 5/5
      Set in an Italian villa near the end of World War II that has been deserted since the war is moving northward. The nurse, Hana, refuses to leave with the rest of her comrades as they evacuate the villa stating that she will stay with the English patient insisting that he will die if moved. The English patient has an unknown name and identification but has been burned severely from a plane crash. Hana is left to care for the patient and as she does two others come into the story. Caravaggio, a friend of her father's who seeks her out and remains with her. An Indian soldier, Kip, working with the British army to disarm bombs. Together the three of them try to unravel the English patients hidden identity by dosing him with morphine and untangling his stories told in his delirium. Stories of all begin to unfold past and present giving a haunting tale of the aspects of war. The book skips from character to character from past to present which can be confusing if not paying close attention but overall well done.
    • 3/5
      Smooth, elegant language. Cool, delicate. Not gripping. Others find it brilliant.
    • 2/5
      Some nice imagery, but largely unbearable.
    • 3/5
      I was not as impressed as I had hoped to be.
    • 4/5
      Lyrical language, layers of story and complicated characters helped considerably by watching the movie first. If I had picked this up without watching the movie, I'm not sure I would have continued past the first few chapters. This is the type of literary novel that a reader has to persevere and stitch the pieces of story together as the author seems to throw them randomly at you. In fact, the author carefully crafts the story, but the reader needs to do more work than straight forward fiction...one of the reasons I don't read much literary stuff. Call me lazy, but I work at work and read for entertainment. Those literary books that I do read, I usually enjoy for the language and craft rather than the story, but this one satisfied both needs...once I got past the first couple of layers.
    • 5/5
      This is a book to be read and treasured over a long weekend; it's filled with graceful heart-rending language and utterly believable characters who are as beautiful and full as they are broken. The more slowly you read this, and the more closely you read this, the more you'll gain from and appreciate it. Ondaatje's language is poetic and masterful, and nothing I could say here can do it justice. This is a book worth reading and rereading.