Krishna
** Original post Feb 17, 2012 **
This is a much admired, and reviled book at the same time. (Remember the spoof on Seinfeld about how slow the movie is?)
I found the book good, on the whole. (Again, depends on what kind of books you like, so I understand that everyone will have a different view). The whole thing about this book is the evocative way the author describes the bond developing between the unknown English Patient and the nurse. Teh decision of the nurse to stay with the patiend in a half destroyed unused bungalow and the other characters who wander into the story like Kip, the Indian landmine expert and the uncle Cravaggio make for interesting reading. I especially liked the postscript like description of her efforts to contact him after he leaves for India (not in the movie).
The past life of the English patient is evocatively told, as is the lurking background of the war, but I would admit that the story drags along at places, especially in the middle of the book where not much happens.
The construction and especially the last twenty pages of the book still make up for most of the lacunae and I would give it a 6/10 for the lyrical construction and the superb atmosphere, despite the few yawns it provoked.
— Krishna