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Title: The English Patient

Author: Michael Ondaatje

Narrator: Christopher Cazenove

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-02-07

Publisher: Books on Tape

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 344 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of passion, betrayal, and rescue illuminates this audiobook like flashes of heat lightening.

©1992 Michael Ondaatje; (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic Reviews:

"The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje wears the triple crown: it is profound, beautiful and heart-quickening." (Toni Morrison)

"There are books that change the shape of literature. The English Patient is such a book." (Books in Canada)

"A magic carpet ride of a novel that soars across worlds and times....A rare and spellbinding net of dreams." (Time)

Members Reviews:

4 lives in the aftermath of WWII

This is a wonderfully written book that brings together the lives of 4 people affected differently by the war. It is touching and profound as well as insightful. For those that saw the movie....it is completely different in approach. Whereas the movie focused on the plots of individual lives, the book examines their "interior" world. Highly recommended.

Both Book and Narrator excellent

I wasn't sure about the book due to earlier reviews, but I want to assure you that the narrator is excellent. I also happen to like the book better than the movie made of it.

Gorgeous and heartbreaking

The writing is gorgeous, that goes without saying. Every turn of phrase was a visual feast for the eyes --and ears in this case. In more than one spot I stopped, went back, and listened again, and again, just because it was so beautifully written.

I came to the story first from the movie. The movie was done so well in every way, as evidenced by how many awards it was given, but it didn't quite seem enough for me to fully understand the relationships between these people. And, it was so well cast that the visual images of each of the characters carried over into the book.

As I suspected, as good as the movie was, this book dove into the heart and soul of each character. Even if they did something that was surprising, I understood it for the simple human frailty that the each revealed. Every frailty was also what was celebrated in each in gentle and elegant ways.

There were certain minor things that confused me about the movie, or that didn't quite ring true and that was because there was only a short time to offer a glimpse of each character without benefit of full history. That was why I wanted to read the book. It was so beautiful and so compelling that I needed to understand more fully what motivated these characters, until they ceased being characters and started being people.

I believe this is one of those rare books that could be picked up again and again, and every time something else will be revealed and I will have a deeper understanding.

If only there was a pause between chapters

This would easily have been 5-star except for the soulless lack of spacing between chapters. Jarring and upsetting the beautiful flow of the prose. The author and the narrator worked so hard to produce this jewel only to be let down by the techs.