TITLE: Warlight
AUTHOR: Michael Ondaatje
PUBLISHER: Vintage International / Random House Audio
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING: London, England
FORMAT: print & audio/my shelves
FORMAT: print & audio/my shelves
RATING - 4/5
Historical fiction is not usually something I gravitate toward but, I was pretty happy my book group selected it as our October read. I really enjoyed it. Surprisingly, only 3 of the dozen or so members who came to the meeting liked the book.
Set in London right after WWII, Nathan 14, and his older sister, Rachel, are told by their parents that they need to go away to Singapore for a while. The teens are left with Walter, A.K.A. The Moth, who stays at their home with them. The children wonder whether "the moth" is a criminal, but quickly forget that imagining when more motley characters join their household.
This novel ,although historical, had a nice element of mystery to it as well. Nothing is as we are first lead to believe and it's a slow reveal that held my interest throughout. It's definitely a darker story especially since a lot of things happen after dark. The beautiful writing and the characters were really memorable. I loved how they tried to teach the siblings a variety of things - some are unusual to say the least. The story is told from the POV of Nathan as a teen and later as a young man as he takes a job with the Foreign Office working in archives and trying to sort out what his mother was up to in the time she was absent from their lives.
This was a combo print and audio read for me. The audio narration was very good.
This was a combo print and audio read for me. The audio narration was very good.
I don't read a lot of historical fiction either but my book club loves it. I read The English Patient by this author and struggled with it so this might not be for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably one of the few people who have never read or seen the movie Kathy - no interest.
ReplyDeleteI've never read this author. Tried The English Patient at least twice and haven't attempted any others. Surprising that only a few in your group liked it. Do you think the audio added to your enjoyment? Maybe it's better to listen to this author...
ReplyDeleteI enjoy historical fiction and the time period is especially interesting to me. I will look for this one.
ReplyDeleteWe don't read a lot of historical fiction either but that does sound pretty good. Thanks for telling us.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting! I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but my #1 favorite book ever is Zoya by Danielle Steele. I read it in 1987 when it was published and of all the books I've read before and after, it's still #1 on my list!
ReplyDeleteI love historical fiction, but struggled so much with The English Patient that I'm not sure this is for me.
ReplyDeleteI do like history so this one is definitely for me. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI too mostly enjoyed this novel. It was my second Ondaatje novel and I plan to read more. I wonder what makes The English Patient so challenging for readers. I plan to find out! Great review.
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds quite intriguing and I already want to know what his mother was up to.
ReplyDeleteYou got me thinking about putting this back on my list. The audio sounds the way to go.
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