The style is first person singular, the male protagonist writing for himself about his childhood and early adulthood and the people he was close to. The characters are written in depth and believable and complex. Like his novel The Cat’s Table he seems to understand how children seem to see the world compared to how they recall the same events and people when they are adults. 

 

Mr Ondaatje’s prose is very evocative of time and place. It also reflects on memories and how people are torn between duty and desire. Reading this novel was a joy.

It’s intriguing but often painfully dull. The narrator is a boring character with an uninteresting voice. He’s also highly unreliable, which is barely acknowledged. So much of the revealed mystery is passively admitted to being what he imagines from the little bit he does know. The big mystery

is espionage during and after WWII with the enemies his mother made. Most of it still remains unknown.

His mother or Rachel would have been more interesting narrators. It would have helped if he would have been observant and put events in a more reasonable order. Additionally, every romance in this is unhealthy and most are a bit gross.

There is a serious age gap issue and infidelity.

The premise was so promising, but I was underwhelmed by the entire book. It’s artfully done, but I think he could have done far better.