Krishna
This book is by Michael Ondaatje, who, after a hiatus of a few years in fictional work, had turned up this and also his more acclaimed Divisadero in quick succession.
First of all, you have to like Michael’s way of storytelling to enjoy any of his books, and this one is no exception. I can see that most will be turned off by the random walk of events that seems to happen in the story.
The Sri Lankan conflict is in the heart of Anil’s Ghost. For those familiar with Indian/ Sri Lankan names, it may come as a surprise that Anil is the name of a lady in the book – and not a man. There is an interesting side story of how Anil came to have that masculine name.
Anil Tissera is originally a Colombo girl, who moved to the UK and then to US and studied to be a forensic scientist. After being sent to investigate genocidal crimes in Africa and Central America, she comes back to Sri Lanka as a member of the UN delegation sent to investigate mass murders by the government. She is there, however, at the `request’ of the Sri Lankan government, who were under pressure to disprove allegations that they were committing atrocities to contain the insurgency.
She is asked to work with Sarath Diyasena, a government employee and she suspects that he is a spy sent there to thwart her work. The suspicion only increases when Sarath tells her that his wife has been dead a few years and a restaurant owner tells her that Sarath comes there many times with his wife.
She discovers four skeletons (named by Sarath and her as Tinker, Soldier, Sailor and Spy) and is convinced that she can uncover their killer can only belong to the government agencies.
She tries to reconstruct the face from the skull with the help of Ananda, an extraordinary sculptor who was recommended to her through Palipana through Sarath. (Details on Palipana follows)
The rest of the story tracks her and Sarath’s experiences in trying to uncover the truth.
The story is populated with memorable characters: Gamini Diyasena, Sarath’s wayward brother who is a medical officer trying to save lives in chaotic conditions where even anesthetic is sometimes unavailable to do an operation. It also includes Palipana, a brilliant scholar of ancient rock carvings who rose to the height of fame with his skill and crashed into ignominy when he started saying things those sources were proved to be his own figments of imagination. The story touches upon Gamini’s failed marriage and his obsessive work habits, on Palipana’s withdrawal to a reclusive existence in a forest and his subsequent blindness; on Palipana’s niece who witnessed the murder of her parents in the hands of terrorists and her subsequent shock. Also explored is Anil’s past, her unsatisfactory marriage and divorce and a passionate affair with a married man in the US. Her close friendship with a dear friend who suddenly leaves her without so much as an explanation also forms a subtext of the story. Added to it is the political atmosphere, including a suicide attack on the President.
Well, who is Anil’s Ghost? Answering that question would be to reveal the ending of the book and would be a great spoiler, and so I will not do it here.
The story is well told and stays in your mind for a long time. Do NOT read this if you did not like the English Patient, because the prose is similar and the storytelling also is very, very close to it.
Ondaatje is careful not to take sides in the ethnic conflict of Sri Lanka, and is careful to distance himself from the analysis of the rights or wrongs of the position of the various combatants involved in what is essentially a civil war through atrocities on all sides.
A great read, if you like the style and I should say 7/10
— Krishna