Divisadero
by Michael Ondaatje
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Book Reviews of Divisadero
Book Review: Literary smoke and mirrors
Summary: 3 Stars
At the risk of sounding like an unsophisticated yokel who is unable to appreciate the literary brilliance of this novel, Divisadero failed to make much of an impression on me. The prose is eloquent, and the novel is ripe with the kinds of themes, symbols, and motifs that College English professors live for, but for me, it just wasn't enough.
Divisadero is essentially two novels: one a present day story (with a flashback to the youth of the modern day characters) and the other set in 19th Century Europe. These dual stories parallel each other and this, it would seem, is pretty much the point of the novel. In the final scene of the novel, the author writes of birds flying over the still water of a lake as close to their reflections as possible. This is the overriding theme of the novel, the past reflected in the future.
And while, on some level, I can appreciate the imagery provided by broken glass and photographs and reflections on still water, it's no substitute for a compelling story. And the story was compelling - at first. But then Ondaatje abandons the modern day story, rather abruptly, which is a shame.
Yes, this is a beautifully written novel. It has layers and depth and demands to be read more than once if you want to fully appreciate its literary cleverness. It's the kind of novel that someone could write a really good English Lit paper on. But I would have enjoyed the novel more if the author had focused on telling a compelling story that could stand on its own and didn't need to rely on the literary equivalent of 'smoke and mirrors'.
Book Review: Lush Mosaic of lyrical love and lament....
Summary: 4 Stars
DIVISDERO grabs the reader from the very beginning and the multi-layered, page turning plot reveals that the connections in time, both present and past, continually circle our lives to mold and shape us. We are ever haunted by these flowing and ebbing moments.
Reading Ondaatje's rich prose is like sitting down to a gourmand's feast and slowly working through the pleasurable, excellently prepared courses. It's as if a `courtesan of words' is seducing and dazzling you with unpredictable, intriguing stories. Ondaajte's descriptions are nakedly beautiful scenes of majestic texture and captivating imagery.
His poetic skills are woven into the narration with a subtle, yet radiant passion.
The novel at first appears to fashion fragments of lives as the story unfolds by flowing both forward and backward in time.
In time we realize the fluid connection, the critical moments that define and `circle' the unforgettable characters and create the dreamlike images and hear the elegant prose of his language.
The two distinct parts of the novel were difficult to align and didn't become fully realized until the very end.
Anna likens it to a villanelle...."this inclination of going back to events in our past, the way the villanelle's form refuses to move forward in linear development.."
Still, there were, for me, a few loose ends in the final pages that I would have enjoyed to have been tied up before closing this powerful, evocative tapestry...
Highly recommended!
Book Review: VERY UNEVEN FOR ME
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm having trouble reading this book. I loved "Anhil's Ghost" and read it twice. Probably will read it again. And I liked "The English patient" although I didn't love it. But this book is very uneven for me. It hooks me and then it loses me, again and again. I loved it at first, especially the writing. Then on page 25 I almost quit. It was a matter of story material, not style. I was surprised that the action offended me so much, but it did. Partly, it's a matter of jumping conflict. The narrative doesn't prepare the reader for what happens. But I pushed on. Until I hit the gambling part, set in Lake Tahoe and Reno. None of this sounded real, at first. Much of story is reported, not rendered. On Page 44 I thought that I would quit. It seemed untrue. But by Page 50, it was wonderful again. The writing, the story flow, the insight into human nature, the sense of a travelogue of the soul -- all that is working again. I feel blinded, as if lost in a snow-storm at night. I trudge on, as if in a dream.Book Review: A bit of a disappointment
Summary: 3 Stars
Ondaatje's "Divisadero" is a poetic work, but I find the story to be lacking substance and force. While spinning the tales of several families from different eras, and with hintings of supposedly meaningful comparisons between them, the connection seems weak. There are three parts to this novel:
Part I: Anna, Claire, and Coop;
Part II: The Family in the Cart;
Part III; The House in Demu.
In my opinion the three parts are better read separately than as a coherent whole, because the only common thread is the character named Lucien Segura. Sometimes Ondaatje's writing in "Divisadero" is suggestive and vague, as in the final passage in the novel that describes a disastrous boating event, which can be frustrating because of the uncertainty. While serving as a pleasurable read, "Divisadero" fails to be enlightening. The best parts of the novel is about the romance of lovers. Not recommended for serious reading.
Book Review: Misty but elegant
Summary: 4 Stars
To integrate Part two with what precedes it you can think that Anna had worked out Lucien's story to that extent or that it is a story by itself. But the fact remains that it does not flow from the story about Coop, Anna and Claire. "Suggestion", says a Sanscrit crtique of poetry, "is the mainstay of great poetry".Divisadero is poetic in places in that sense. Roman takes Marie-liege from behind while she holds on to a barrel of rain-water to support herself "and", Ondaatje writes, " in the nextwhile, whatever surprise there was, whatever pain, there was also the frantic moon in front of her shifting and breaking into pieces in the water".Accept it for its piquant though disjointed observations and it is great reading. For instance,"we differ in our own realities from the way we are seen by others", so observes a character. How true and don't we require that fact to be reiterated again and again?