Running in the Family (Picador Books) |
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Michael Ondaatje
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Pages: 207 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0330281720
Pub: Picador
Pub date: 1984-05-11
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 47352
Reader Reviews:
A beautiful book exhuming a bygone era... (18/19 people found this helpful)
This is wonderful to read. Ondaatje manages to recreate Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in a wonderfully absorbing, highly readable style. The characters (his family!) are extremely eccentric and entertaining, though there is sadness as well as humour. He is a top-notch story teller and this kind of travelogue/biography is a joy to read.
Oh please! (7/32 people found this helpful)
I'm afraid I found this book rambling, boring and thoroughly self-indulgent. An avid reader, this is the only book I have ever read that I actually wanted to throw away without finishing, an act which I have never before contemplated.I think that says it all?
Exquisite prose interlaced with vividly beautiful poetry. (9/10 people found this helpful)
A fascinating insight into a time and place I knew nothing about. Ondaatje writes like a dream; not only is his style luminous and sensual but the stories themselves are a sheer delight. Like my fellow Londoner, I loved the story of Lala on the bus - but even more I loved the photograph of the author's parents. Certainly one of my favourite books. Highly recommended (although admittedly not to everyone's taste - if you prefer Jeffrey Archer to Jane Austen you may be disappointed).
fiction, family history, fairy tale or autobiography (12/13 people found this helpful)
Ondaatje's prose is luminous and his poetry makes Sri Lanka a tangible presence. This is a family history of sorts with a fluctuating narrative standpoint - at times autobiographical, at times a vivid recreation of his parents' experiences and those of other family members. The story of his improbably named grandmother and the groper on the bus had me laughing out loud. This is a fascinating jewel of a book which reads like fiction - not the sort of fiction you buy in an airport book shop, though; rather the sort of fiction likely to be praised on late night book reviews. It is a delight.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Historical -> Countries & Regions -> France
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Historical -> Countries & Regions -> Indian Subcontinent
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Historical -> 1901 Onwards
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Countries & Regions -> Asia -> South Asia -> Sri Lanka
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> O -> Ondaatje, Michael
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards -> Literary Fiction
Books -> Subjects -> Poetry, Drama & Criticism -> History & Criticism -> Literary Studies -> 20th Century
Books -> Subjects -> Reference -> Genealogy -> Family History
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Hardcover
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)