![]() ![]() ![]() (See how I am struggling to describe what this book is about!) It could be defined as a mystery novel, even though it’s not about a murder and it’s not the least bit suspenseful. I’m not even sure it’s a character-driven one - although it does have a vast cast of characters involved in the field of espionage who are all wonderfully drawn. ![]() ![]() And what he discovers, ephemeral and mysterious as it appears to the reader, allows him to make sense of his upbringing and the people with whom his mother associated. Now working in London for the security agencies, he has access to high-level secret information. He also accompanies an older man (a longtime friend of his mother’s) on furtive sailings up and down the Thames on a mussel barge, smuggling greyhounds into the country.īut this exciting new world, dangerous and life-affirming by turn, comes to a head in a dramatic way, and so when the second part opens we meet an older, more reflective Nathaniel, eager to piece together his mother’s story. When he’s not at school, he’s doing part-time jobs in restaurants and hotels (largely as a kitchen hand), mixing with people much older than himself, and exploring sex with a working-class girl who’s a little older than himself. So begins the story, which is a mix of boys’ own adventure, mystery, intrigue and coming of age, for in the first part of Warlight Nathaniel is given pretty much free rein to do as he likes. In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals. The second, set a dozen years later, details Nathaniel’s investigation into his mother’s hidden past following her untimely death: who exactly was she, and what kind of work did she do during the war? Mystery and intrigue The first, set in London immediately after the Second World War, looks at what happens to 14-year-old Nathaniel, the narrator, and his older sister, Rachel, when they are left in the care of a guardian while their parents head to Singapore for a year. But it’s also about the shadowy world of espionage and London’s criminal underworld during the 1940s and 1950s. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje is one of those novels that is almost impossible to review because trying to describe what it is about is as difficult as catching cumulous clouds in a butterfly net.īoiled down to its most basic premise, it’s a story about a son trying to figure out the secrets of his late mother’s life. Fiction – Kindle edition Vintage Digital 285 pages 2018. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |