In the Skin of a Lion

As epigraph to this, his second novel (1987), Michael Ondaatje quotes John Berger: "Never again will a single story be told as though it were the only one." As in all his novels up to his latest, DIVISADERO, he delights in telling what seem to be several different stories at once, apparently unconnected in literal terms, but subtly related in imagery and theme. Gradually, the connections become more apparent, but be warned: much of the work is left to the reader, and not all the loose ends get tied up.Personally, I find this fascinating. Ondaatje has the power of pulling you in with vividly-realized scenes as unforgettable as film clips; in the first few pages alone, a boy helping his father haul a cow out of the mud, Finnish lumbermen skating at night by the light of burning cattails held above their heads, and a man who catches a nun blown off a bridge in a storm. The boy, Patrick Lewis, will move as a laborer to Toronto in the 1920s and become the nearest thing to a protagonist in the story, though filling this role as much by what he reveals of the life and people around him as by anything he does himself. The nun disappears from the action unnamed, leaving the reader wondering what happened to her; only much later are we given enough information to guess. The skating lumbermen are peripheral to the story, but the firefly image of flames moving through darkness recurs four or five times more, and will culminate in the striking picture from THE ENGLISH PATIENT of the Sikh sapper showing the frescoes in Arezzo to the Canadian nurse Hana, while swinging from a rope to the light of a hand-held flare. Indeed Hana herself is introduced in this earlier book as a child, together with one of the other characters from THE ENGLISH PATIENT, David Caravaggio, the professional thief.I hate to tie down such an open-ended book by specifying a theme, but the word that comes to me is inequality. Certainly social inequality. This was a time of unionization, labor unrest, Marxist and anarchist movements. Ondaatje is firmly on the side of the poor, the polyglot immigrants, the workers in such horrible conditions that their lives are shortened just through the fact of having a job. Many of the happenings in the later part of the book are inexplicable except in the context of such class warfare, though the writing is stronger because the cause and effect is never explicit. But there are other kinds of inequality also: between lawlessness and order, between women and the men who feel they scarcely deserve their love, and between adult and child. Ondaatje constantly strikes sparks across opposite poles of such surprising brilliance that he both catches the reader unawares and amazes him with his inner truth. Perhaps he owes something to EL Doctorow in books like RAGTIME. He has certainly set an example for other Canadian writers such as Jane Urquart (A MAP OF GLASS) and Anne Michaels (THE WINTER VAULT). But Ondaatje has an intensity which makes him, for me, the most exciting of the lot.

I have to admit, I was so lost reading this book, then I got it, then I was confused, then some of it made sense again. Even with all that, I would recommend it.He writes with such beautiful imagery that you just have to take a breath and say “wow.” And he does it without writing in a pretentious tone.

If you liked the English Patient you are probably going to love this too. I read the E.P. first so it was a real treat to find out about Hana and Carravaggio. I just adore this author's use of language and his disjointed writing style that keeps you engaged. I feel like I'm in a trance when I read his books and hate when they are over.

Before I this book, I read The English Patient by the same author. His prose is as beautiful and graceful as poetry or ballet. However, if you were to ask me specific questions about either of them about what happened to this one and why, did do-and-so get together with the other, why did so-and-so do that crazy thing he did, did he save her from the war,when and why did he do what he did, DID he do that, etc., my answer to you would be, "I don't have the vaguest idea." I read this book to read more flowing prose, but maybe this time, I'd be practiced enough to speak informatively and correctly these veiled stories. Well, I am here to tell you to "GIVE UP". If you do figure out all the characters, then I'll send you my 30 and 30 questions about each one, I'll have my friends send them to you. We'll have a huge party to understand it all. Perhaps we'll charge for attendees and put out small refreshments. That TRULY is the best way!!! Now someone volunteer,!! When will we meet?

As the book began I was quickly into it. I developed connection to the principal character, but the story lost me. Several times I was ready to dump it but as I’d read three of his books and was really into each of them, I ground my way through it. If it had been the first book of his I would have dinged it and ignored the subsequent ones.

A wonderful book that feels like poetry in prose: engaging characters and development arcs, subtle themes and more. If you're a fan of The English Patient, read this prequel!

This was a wonderfully atmospheric book to completely escape to another time and place. The language and detailed descriptions of place and characters has you living in that turn of the century Canadian lumber camp or building the bridge in the industrial revolution era as sure as if you were there. I highly recommend!

One of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. The writing is prose verging on poetry. Every word used is obviously carefully considered. The subject matter is especially relevant today, detailing the lives of immigrants to Canada. And the descriptions alone are worth reading the book for.