Reviews

Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

rdale17's review

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition

3.0

The weakest of Ondaatje's novels, in my opinion, this is still lovely.

nemreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

mrjohnlock's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

lampost15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

justwingit03's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Great novel, but I would look up trigger warnings before reading.

I just wished that the ending left off with Anil’s epilogue. Also the build up to discover who Sailor fell flat. The climax suddenly shifted over to how Anil will escape Sri Lanka which isn’t what seemed to be the focus of the novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, Medical content, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

sledge_hm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

guniz's review

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

alykat_reads's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

2024 Read the World challenge: Sri Lanka

This one was just okay for me. I didn't really know what was going on half of the book. It felt very fragmented, and that just didn't work for me because it was hard to get into the story, or just when I would feel like I knew what was happening, it would jump to something else. Meh, don't really have much more to say than that.

stormystewart's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75