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What Members Thought
I have never seen the movie that was made from this book, and I am not sure if I'm going to. I really really struggled with the first 100 pages or so of this novel. They are soooo overly descriptive. And entire page associated with 1 person drawing a hopscotch game on the ground and hopping through once. Just so much description for nothing happening.
Once the character of Kip comes into the story, it gets more interesting. Now there are actual relationships, and some chapters go back in time to ...more
Once the character of Kip comes into the story, it gets more interesting. Now there are actual relationships, and some chapters go back in time to ...more
A powerful and complex novel that somewhat disappointed me with the ending. I wanted to know more, what happened to all the characters, but instead followed only one to the end. The prose was beautiful, however, sometimes harsh with the "F-word" being used by both the men and woman and feeling very out of place. Yes, it was a harsh world and harsh times, so maybe the harsh word really did fit.
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Set in Italy at the end of WWII, this is a story of four marred individuals in an abandoned villa. Hana the nurse who is tired of seeing dying and the loss of her baby and father, Caravaggio the thief who doesn't know what he is now that he has maimed hands, Kip the Indian sapper who dismantles bombs for the allies and the so called English patient who lies in his bed as others come in and interact with him and deal with their own needs.
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Powerful and poetic. I learned about parts of WWII that I had never learned about before, but the prose was beautiful.
Hmmm. Evocative and poetic, yes. But for me, the parts were better than the whole.
Aug 29, 2011
Ann
marked it as to-read
Jan 29, 2016
Jgrace
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
relationships,
ww2,
historical-fiction,
romance,
jgrace,
1001-books-you-must-read-before-you,
africa,
italy,
judithg
Jun 17, 2017
Yvonne
marked it as to-read
