Best of the Backlist Book Club: “The English Patient” by Michael Ondaatje

Georgia Court leads an analysis of Michael Ondaatje’s Booker Prize-winning novel The English Patient at Bookstore1Sarasota. Part of the shop’s Best of the Backlist series, the conversation unpacks the non-linear narrative of four damaged lives intersecting in an abandoned Italian villa at the end of World War II. The group will study Ondaatje’s poetic prose and how the text handles themes of memory, national identity and the lingering trauma of conflict. The monthly meetup provides readers with an opportunity to revisit and critically assess major works of literary fiction.