"Ondaatje's novel satisfies one of the most exalted purposes of fiction: to illuminate the human condition through pity and terror. It may well be the capstone of his career." (Publishers Weekly)
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The bodies turn up weekly now. The height of the terror was 'eighty-eight and 'eighty-nine, but of course it was going on long before that. Every side was killing and hiding the evidence. Every side. This is an unofficial war, no one wants to alienate the foreign powers. So it's secret gangs and squads. Not like Central America. The government was not the only one doing the killing.In such a situation, it's difficult to know who to trust. Anil's colleague is one Sarath Diyasena, a Sri Lankan archaeologist whose political affiliations, if any, are murky. Together they uncover evidence of a government-sponsored murder in the shape of a skeleton they nickname Sailor. But as Anil begins her investigation into the events surrounding Sailor's death, she finds herself caught in a web of politics, paranoia, and tragedy.
Like its predecessor, the novel explores that territory where the personal and the political intersect in the fulcrum of war. Its style, though, is more straightforward, less densely poetical. While many of Ondaatje's literary trademarks are present--frequent shifts in time, almost hallucinatory imagery, the gradual interweaving of characters' pasts with the present--the prose here is more accessible. This is not to say that the author has forgotten his poetic roots; subtle, evocative images abound. Consider, for example, this description of Anil at the end of the day, standing in a pool of water, "her toes among the white petals, her arms folded as she undressed the day, removing layers of events and incidents so they would no longer be within her." In Anil's Ghost Michael Ondaatje has crafted both a brutal examination of internecine warfare and an enduring meditation on identity, loyalty, and the unbreakable hold the past exerts over the present. --Alix Wilber
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. New Condition. Unread Copy. May Have Minor Shelf Wear To Edges And/Or Turned Corners. - For More Information On Condition. Please See All Photos. In His First Novel Since The Internationally Acclaimed "The English Patient" - Winner Of The Booker Prize And The Governor General's Award - Michael Ondaatje Gives Us "Anil's Ghost," A Work Displaying All The Richness Of Imagery And Language And The Piercing Emotional Truth We Have Come To Know As The Hallmarks Of His Writing. The Time Is Our Own Time. The Place, Sri Lanka, The Island Nation Off The Southern Tip Of India, A Country Formerly Known As Ceylon, Which Is Steeped In Centuries Of Cultural Achievement And Tradition - And Forced Into The Late Twentieth Century By The Ravages Of Civil War And The Consequences Of A Country Divided Against Itself. Into This Maelstrom Steps A Young Woman, Anil Tissera, Born In Sri Lanka, Educated In The West, A Forensic Anthropologist Sent By An International Human-Rights Group To Work With Local Officials To Discover The Source Of The Organized Campaigns Of Murder Engulfing The Island. Bodies Are Discovered. Skeletons. And Particularly One, Nicknamed "Sailor." What Follows, In A Novel Vivid With Character And Event, Is A Story About Love, About Family, About Loss, About The Unknown Enemy And The Quest To Unlock The Hidden Past - All Propelled By A Riveting Mystery. Unfolding Against The Deeply Evocative Background Of Sri Lanka's Landscape And Ancient Civilization, "Anil's Ghost" Is A Literary Spellbinder - A Timeless Work Of Art And A Revelatory Journey. Seller Inventory # 006452
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition 1.25. Seller Inventory # bk077106893Xxvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 1.25. Seller Inventory # 353-077106893X-new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st. First printing, first Canadian edition. 8vo, hardcover in dustjacket. Very Fine/Very Fine. New, unread copy. SIGNED on the title page. This is the correct first printing with number sequence 1.10 on a single copyright page. No remainder mark. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 790365
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks584067