Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Warlight
Michael Ondaatje
Review by Priscilla Comen
Warlight
Michael Ondaatje
Review by Priscilla Comen
Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje, is the tale of two children in London, fifteen-year-old Nathaniel and his older sister, Rachel after the second world war is over. Nathaniel narrates the entire story. Their father gets a new position in India and mother plans to join him there. She leaves them in the care of a man they nickname “The Moth.” The Moth invites all his friends to their house; they are all odd and seem to be criminals in Nathaniel and Rachel’s eyes.
When they find their mother’s trunk has not been shipped to her location, they are confused. Where can she have gone? And without all her belongings? Nathaniel gets a job washing dishes at a big hotel and loves hearing the stories of his co-workers, mostly about sex. Nathaniel has many adventures with The Darter, a friend of The Moth, on his mussel boat. They import Greyhound dogs for the races. Greyhound racing was illegal but lucrative for Darter. Nathaniel meets Agnes and they make love every week in an empty house for sale by her realtor cousin. The most memorable time was when the dogs came with them into the house and they played together in every room, then slept the night there.
In the second part, Nathaniel and his sister are attacked by someone unknown. Their mother is there with them. Where has she been? We don’t know yet. Ten years after his mother dies, Nathaniel is called by the Foreign office to work for them. His only prerequisite for this job is his mother. He buys a house near where mother grew up and describes in detail his friendship with a neighbor, Mr Malokite. They plant and harvest vegetables together and form a strong bond. As for Rachel, when her mother finally returns, Rachel has a seizure, one of many Rachel has had in her early years. She hated her mother since then.
Nathaniel looks for information on his mother’s exploits in the file cabinets where he works. Secretly, of course. Even after the war, she was afraid she would be targeted for her deeds. At his mother’s funeral, a tall thin man speaks a few words to Nathaniel. Who is this man? How did he know mother? Does Nathaniel find out the truth about his mother’s works/ How is this man related to mother? What became of The Darter and of Agnes?
Ondaatje has won the Booker Prize and many others. He lives in Toronto and did much research for this novel.
Find this fascinating novel on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
When they find their mother’s trunk has not been shipped to her location, they are confused. Where can she have gone? And without all her belongings? Nathaniel gets a job washing dishes at a big hotel and loves hearing the stories of his co-workers, mostly about sex. Nathaniel has many adventures with The Darter, a friend of The Moth, on his mussel boat. They import Greyhound dogs for the races. Greyhound racing was illegal but lucrative for Darter. Nathaniel meets Agnes and they make love every week in an empty house for sale by her realtor cousin. The most memorable time was when the dogs came with them into the house and they played together in every room, then slept the night there.
In the second part, Nathaniel and his sister are attacked by someone unknown. Their mother is there with them. Where has she been? We don’t know yet. Ten years after his mother dies, Nathaniel is called by the Foreign office to work for them. His only prerequisite for this job is his mother. He buys a house near where mother grew up and describes in detail his friendship with a neighbor, Mr Malokite. They plant and harvest vegetables together and form a strong bond. As for Rachel, when her mother finally returns, Rachel has a seizure, one of many Rachel has had in her early years. She hated her mother since then.
Nathaniel looks for information on his mother’s exploits in the file cabinets where he works. Secretly, of course. Even after the war, she was afraid she would be targeted for her deeds. At his mother’s funeral, a tall thin man speaks a few words to Nathaniel. Who is this man? How did he know mother? Does Nathaniel find out the truth about his mother’s works/ How is this man related to mother? What became of The Darter and of Agnes?
Ondaatje has won the Booker Prize and many others. He lives in Toronto and did much research for this novel.
Find this fascinating novel on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.