What I’m Reading: In the Skin of a Lion, by Michael Ondaatje.
Status: Finished!
Rating: 4/5

Oh, this book! A couple of years ago a poetry professor of mine got talking about Ondaatje’s work (we were reading The Collected Works of Billy the Kid), and when she remembered this book her eyes went wide and she started to rave. This book was the book, she said, that she had read in university and which made her fall in love with Ondaatje. She was a VERY enthusiastic teacher, so I filed the book title away for my list of books to read but didn’t completely believe it would be as fan-crazy-TASTIC as she made it sound.

Buuut… when the book was donated to the book sale where I work, I set it aside and bought it for myself. And, much to my surprise, I am now in love with Michael Ondaatje! How did that happen? I was bored for the first thirty pages or so, lost in the beautiful, but dense and slow-moving, description. And then all of a sudden I was reading huge chunks without stopping when I should, burning the midnight oil and almost missing my bus stops! Where? Why? How? I tried re-reading the first part of the book to find where it changes to get good (read: fan-crazy-TASTIC), but now that I’m done the book the initial part seems more beautiful than slow to me and I can’t get the bored feeling back to find where the enthralled feeling begins.

In other words, please read this book so we can discuss! It’s all about Toronto at the turn of the 20th century, into the late 1930s. I had no idea that Toronto had such a rich, storied, and at times seriously crazy past! The Torontonians of yore that make this story so vibrant and startling are a mix of city officials, immigrant workers, and rural Canadians trying to build a life in the city. Nicholas Temelcoff is my personal favourite: we first meet him as a daredevil bridge builder trying to learn English, and we leave him as a baker who will only work in a black suit. The stories of the immigrants living in Toronto are the most memorable, so compassionately and vividly written. Ondaatje himself immigrated from Ceylon to England in 1954, and then relocated to Canada in 1962, which makes his approach to the immigrant community in the book, particularly that community’s relationship to the English language, particularly compelling.

Such a good book. I can’t wait to read The English Patient! But the next book on my To Read list is Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, which comes very highly recommended by my mother… apparently this is one of the best books I will ever read, so I’m excited. Although finding a book to read next after reading The Best Book Ever is always a challenge! If you have any suggestions for other Best Books Ever, send them on over. And enjoy In the Skin of a Lion!

All the best and happy reading!

Erin