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Running in the Family (Picador Books)

By: Michael Ondaatje
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 0330281720
ISBN-13: 9780330281720
Released: 11 May 1984
RRP: £8.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A beautiful book exhuming a bygone era... - By: , 27 Mar 2001
This is wonderful to read. Ondaatje manages to recreate Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in a wonderfully absorbing, highly readable style. The characters (his family!) are extremely eccentric & entertaining, though there is sadness as well as humour. He is a top-notch story teller & this kind of travelogue/biography is a joy to read.
Oh please! - By: , 07 Jun 2000
I'm afraid I found this book rambling, boring & thoroughly self-indulgent. An avid reader, this is the only book I have ever read that I actuallly wanted to throw away without finishing, an act which I have never before contemplated.I think that says it alll?
Exquisite prose interlaced with vividly beautiful poetry. - By: , 26 Jul 1999
A fascinating insight into a time & place I knew nothing about. Ondaatje writes like a dream; not only is his style luminous & sensual but the stories themselves are a sheer delight. Like my fellow Londoner, I loved the story of Lala on the bus - but even more I loved the photograph of the author's parents. Certainly one of my favourite books. Highly recommended (although admittedly not to everyone's taste - if you prefer Jeffrey Archer to Jane Austen you may be disappointed).
fiction, family history, fairy tale or autobiography - By: , 30 Jan 1999
Ondaatje's prose is luminous & his poetry makes Sri Lanka a tangible presence. This is a family history of sorts with a fluctuating narrative standpoint - at times autobiographical, at times a vivid recreation of his parents' experiences & those of other family members. The story of his improbably named grandmother & the groper on the bus had me laughing out loud. This is a fascinating jewel of a book which reads like fiction - not the sort of fiction you buy in an airport book shop, though; rather the sort of fiction likely to be praised on late night book reviews. It is a delight.