Opening this novel is like entering a dreamlike state where you have to pay attention to every detail. The writing is poetic and beautiful, though it took me longer to finish this because I sometimes needed a break from the emotionally devastating descriptions and traumatic details. 

The format is unusual and it can be quite a dense read. But once  I got down to the core of Ondaatje's message, I found this novel to be incredibly powerful and timely. It is scary how relevant the subject matter of nationalism is to our world today.

Ondaatje's descriptions of the desert/desert communities and the sappers' work were, for me, the most compelling aspects of this novel. I was also charmed by the family/community the characters build within Villa San Girolamo. Several times, Ondaatje employs an original and effective literary device in which his characters recount the conclusion of a story (and the reader is confused) before they immediately recount the events leading up to the conclusion (so the reader's confusion is resolved). Interesting commentary on the role of race in war and in the historical and future American use of nuclear bombs. Caravaggio starts as such an intriguing and even funny character, but Ondaatje largely ignores him in the later stages of the book. The ending is abrupt and felt somewhat unresolved.