A Patient Read. Review on English Patient, The - Michael Ondaatje

The English Patient ranks as one of my favourite books and one that ought not to have reached a larger audience in its celluloid avatar. It is a book that needs to be read slowly, enjoyed for its rich imagery and lyrical prose.

I have read it numerous times, returning to it, as though to an old friend and companion. From the desert healer with his tinkling bottles of soothing potions to the dark intensity of Kip, each character, central or not to the plot, stays in your memory. Each isolated, cocooned in a quietness that is at odds with the larger backdrop of the 2nd World War.

If ever I was marooned in a deserted island or had to jump a sinking ship, Michael's book would be first to go into my emergency kit!

Read, enjoy and revel in the complexities of this most moving story.

And if you share my belief that Michael Ondaatje is a master craftsman, then read ''Cinnamon Peeler'' - an offering that will reinforce your faltering faith.