Anne's response to The Time in Between

I have to say that I am neutral on this book.  I didn't find the plot, characters, or narrative overly interesting.  As far as Charles is concerned, I read him as a weak character of himself.  I didn't like that he killed himself -- there seemed to be very little driving him to that decision.  Yes, he saw horrors in Vietnam but I was expecting there to be more attempts on his part to reconcile his actions with the remaining villagers, not just the one try and then killing himself.  

I honestly did not see the point of the characters, Jack and Elaine Gouds.  At first it seemed like there was going to be more than a superficial relationship with Elaine and Charles but then he just turned himself off.  I would much rather have seen him bond with Elaine and perhaps achieve some healing through a relationship her.  It would have been more dramatic and appealing (to me) if Charles had become attached to her and then, despite attempts to reconcile his past with her help, he killed himself.  Also, his ghosts could have been more awful.  I found Kiet had more ghosts than Charles did and I felt more compassion towards Kiet.  But maybe the author wasnt' tryin to make us feel sorry for Charles.....

I thought Jon was a useless wimp who needed a huge reality check.  Ada should have dragged him back to the morgue and made him face his father's corpse.  I come from 'old school' stock that says if the father's gone, then the son needs to step up and be a man and support his family.  Jon did the opposite in Vietnam with Ada - he hid behind his fears and wasn't around when Ada needed him most.  Then he gets angry with her when she almost dies and doesn't have a chance to tell him that their father killed himself.  

Ada was an interesting character but I don't think she was fascinating.   I wasn't sure where she was coming from and I still don't know.  She was vague and closed off.  She maybe opened up a bit with Hoang Vu.  She was the reliable, sensible sibling so maybe that has something to do with it.  I would have like to have seen her get really angry with Jon and put him in his place instead of being passive with him.

Rachelle's Response to The English Patient

As a war novel, the English Patient deals with the post-war effects on both humans, and the landscape. This book did an excellent job of creating images of the landscape and of the villa which was turned into a make-shift hospital. All of the characters of this novel were fascinating and unique. I would have to agree with Holly that the novel is much better than the movie. But perhaps this is because, with the novel we were able to create the characters and the settings in our own minds, and when watching the movie they didn't meet up to our own individual expectations.

One distinct difference between the movie and the novel was Kip's reasoning for leaving. I felt as though his reasoning was understandable in the novel. He needed to get away from that place, and return home. He felt as though he had been supporting the wrong side, and as though he was almost responsible for the bombings. In the movie after his friend dies he just packs up and leaves, and you're left waiting for the rest of the story.

Hannah is an interesting character, she is clearly emotionally wounded at the loss of her father, friends, and the things she has witnessed. However, by taking care of the English Patient, it is as though she is healing herself, and regaining the aspects of who she is.

This book was a good read, however, I would argue that at points it was a bit flat, and I was waiting for something to happen, like a mine to go off inside the villa. I wasn't pleased with the ending either. Anne had warned me that she herself wasn't happy with it, and once I read it I understood why. If Kip was still longing for Hannah, why wouldn't he just go and find her? Instead of constantly being reminded of her and thinking about her even though he had married moved on and married another women, this was a frustrating element of the novel for me.

Jim's Respons to "The English Patient"

Two images: one horrific and one beautiful. How could anyone like the image on the left, yet what innocence and beauty portrayed by the image on the right. War is the image on the left and love the imge in the photo on the right. What a horrible way to die; in war , what a waste.

What a pointless endeavor.

This is one of the themes that I get from The English Patient. Kip realized the pointlessness of war starting on page 282. I find it hard to imagine what it would have been like risking your life every day defusing bombs to save lives and then finding out that two massive bombs had killed thousands of people instantly and they were dropped by those who he was disarming bombs for. To Kip a life was a life and it did not matter if you were Britsh, German, Italian, American, or Japanese; a life was a life.

The other theme that jumped out at me was one of an overall dislike of ownership and boundaries, or borders. On p.261, It states, "We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience. All I desired was to walk upon an earth that had no maps." This is a very important passage in the novel and I believe it to be one of the main themes. It caused me to realize that most wars are fought over ownership of lands or possession of people an/or resources, and if we did not have boundaries and ownership as much a lot of war would be avoided.

This novel was beautifully written and time after time in the reading of it I came upon passages such as, " ...a tarpaulin to hold the rain of real life away from him."(p194) that added a beauty to the book just from the reading of it. This novel touched on many aspects of love and war and went deep into eexploring many of them. It is now one of my favorite reads, but I will have to soak it up at least a couple of more times to get more of what it yearns to give me.

Hollys Response to the English Patient

For starters...I had seen the movie before I read the book, and found it slow.
THE BOOK WAS BETTER!!
In saying that, The English Patient is still not one of my favorite books that we have covered in this class.
Probably my favorite aspect of the book is that which is also probably the most confusing. I really liked how the story line jumps from the different characters. I feel that this provides greater depth and personality to the characters and their backgrounds. I am conciously trying to compare the movie to the book at this point, since some of you have not seen it yet, so I will be omitting that from my response until next week!
I am not sure if I find the imagery so spectacular because i have seen the movie and already have images in my mind as I read the story, or if Ondaatje provided these images for me as i read. I am interested to watch the movie again and see how close the images in my mind came to the actually film.

As i read the book, I found myself curious about the way sexuality is brought up in the characters lives. The abrupt terminology used to describe either sexual body parts or sexual acts does not seem to fit with the rest of Ondaatje's writing. I am curiuos about why its portrayed in this way. For example, Hanna says "dont touch me if your going to try and fuck me," and the very first page of the book describes the naked English Patient's "penis sleeping like a seahorse." ok, so is there anyone else who LITERALLY laughed out loud when they read that? I did, and i will not forget it anytime soon. i think that Ondaatje's could have chosen to illuminate sex in the story because of the time period- but for me, it feels as if some other writer slipped sex into the story in order to make it more hollywood. There are times where the writing is smooth and well fitted with Ondaatje's writing style in the rest of the novel, so my question is, why so abrupt in other parts?

re: anne's response to english patient

hi - don't know what happened to the line spacing.  it looked all good on the preview and then i hit 'publish post' and it looks like it does - argh!  sorry that it's all shmushed together :-(

Anne's response to The English Patient

Yet another novel that made me want to throw it across the room at the end!! :-)  I wanted to know what happened to Hana and Caravaggio.  At least we got to know that Kip survived his flight into the river.  I would have like to see Kip and Hana make a go of it but I know now that their relationship would have never worked out - it's just the romantic in me wanting to have its way with everything!

As far as the actual structure of the novel goes, I have to say that it was confusing and frustrating at times.  As I got into the storyline, I sort of became used to the jumping around.  It kept me on my toes and I had to stay sharp while reading.  The same applies to the omission of some quotation marks when there was dialogue.  It made for an interesting aesthetic while looking at the page and it required your full attention.

The story itself was interesting.  Amnesia, love, lust, exotic settings, life, and death.  Not to mention drugs!  Morphine, again, is the vehicle used to get the story out into the open.  But is it the true story?  I would have to take the position that, even though he never says the words, the English patient is Count Almasy.  There  are enough veiled references and pieces of dialogue that convince me of the matter.  

The relationship between Almasy and Katharine Clifton was a violent, sexually-charged one.  They met in 1936 and she died in 1939.  These pre-war years that they had together were very tumultuous and foreshadowed the war years to come in Europe.  Similarily, Kip and Hana's relationship was not a simple, lovey-dovey one.  In contrast to Almasy and Katharine, I don't think Kip and Hana consumated their love, although there was sexual tension there.  Hana was initially very much taken with the colour of Kip's skin as seen on pages 123, 125, and 127.  I think it was a subconcious reaction to reading Kim with the English patient.  I don't believe that Hana saw Kip as a conquest, like a colonizer.  She really did love him but it was not meant to be . . . at that time . . . in that place . . . ever.

I really like that fact that Kip returns to India and becomes a doctor.  As a sapper, he was defusing bombs, saving lives in the process.  But he was working for the British, the white man.  After the bombs were dropped on Japan, Kip could no longer keep working for a government that represented what he was fighting against.  The British didn't drop the bombs -- "white humanity" dropped the bombs on "dark humanity" and at that moment, anyone who was white-skinned was the enemy, in Kip's eyes.  Interestingly, Hana, Caravaggio, and the English patient come into his mind at the end of the novel, particularly Hana.  I think that he came to realize that the three white people who shared the villa with him that summer were also victims and that he would only be feeding a tumour of anger if he continued to hold them responsible as well.  For him to heal and move forward, he needed to let his anger against them disappear. 

Overall, I enjoyed the novel - can't wait to see the movie!!!

Rachelle's Response to Fugitive Pieces

The novel Fugitive Pieces, by author Anne Michael's is both poetic and descriptive in style. I loved the amount of description within this novels pages. Upon reading the first section of the novel I was excited and enthused to read further. However, further is where I found an incoherent storyline, filled with faltered male characters.

The images that Fugitive Pieces created were at one moment unforgettable and then at another moment completely forgotten. I found the images of Fugitive Pieces to be unforgettable due to the immense amount of detail used to produce them. However, they became forgettable due to the incoherence in the storyline, and the switch mid-way from Jacob to Ben's narration.

For myself, I loved the characters of Athos, Jacob, and Ben. This was because they were real people, they had faults and failures, and had been strongly affected by death. As I said before they were slightly faltered, but because of this, I loved them.

Micheal's decision to switch from Jacob to Ben in the midst of her storyline created a great deal of confusion for myself. This was due to the fact that the switch was unannounced, I was readying along peacefully and then found myself confused and backtracking to figure out what had happened. This switch I would argue caused three main problems, for myself, and I am guessing for others. First of all, there was no explanation for the switch and the reader is left wondering, what happened to Jacob? The second problem was, who is this Ben character? and why is he important? Lastly, I found myself waiting for Jacob and Ben to connect with one another in the end, which obviously never happens.

Finally, Jacobs odd obsession with his sister Bella still bothers me even now. On one hand, I was waiting for them to meet up in the end, almost as though Michael's had made her so predominant in the storyline because one day they would reconnect with one another, and perhaps she did not die after all. On the other hand however, it was strange how Jacob compared his wife and then his lover, to his sister.

Change of Plans

Well folks, it's happened again - a change of plans. My apologies - this has been one of the most fluid, changeable courses that I have taught. How post-modern of us!

My staff retreat on April 8th and 9th has been cancelled. We will, therefore, have our last wrap-up class on that day. Yippee! I will bring lunch for all.

Holly's ACTUAL response to "Fugitive Pieces"

In class when we talked about "Fugitive Pieces," we discussed how it appeared to contain 2 books. I would like to argue that it was not 2 books, but rather three.

Book 1: Life with Athos
Book 2: Life after Athos
Book 3: Ben and Jakob's effect/legacy

I found that these three points in the novel as very transitional. Obvious growing up with Athos set up Jakob's future, and made him into the man he was after Athos' death. But the essence left behind by Athos was something unique and special, only obvious to Jakob. Jakob unintentionally repeated the mistakes of Athos at different points in the story. He eventually found happiness, though, while Athos chose not to remarry.

In a way, both Athos and Jakob were committed to the dead: Athos and his wife who passed away, and Jakob and his dedication to Athos and Bella. Their commitment to the departed stifles their lives; as if they are unable to breathe without the breath of those they have loved and lost.

The way Jakob holds onto the memory of Bella is so unique to me. I found it odd that it is her he misses the most passionately, even though he did not even realize he didn't see her body with her parents. She was an afterthought, in this respect. I wonder if maybe it was the guilt of not wanting to protect/find/know the fate of his sister immediately that caused Jakob to crave her presence so badly. The curiosity of Bella's fate was consuming.

The Writing :
I truly loved the style in which this story was written . the poetic emphasis was seen throughout the entire story, in while describing horrific events, the writing came through as stunningly beautiful. While this is not my favourite of stories, the writing is something unforgettable. the use of imagery and elegant language is unforgettable. Michaels is a truly talented writer.

as an aspiring author, Michaels stands out incredibly. The eloquence of the story even as it expressed times of turmoil and bitter sadness radiates a brilliance that is unique to Michaels. Her poetic background is what made this novel so powerful and moving.

Holly's response to"Fugitive Pieces"

In class when we talked about "Fugitive Peices," we discussed how it appeared to contain 2 books. I would like to argue that it was not 2 books, but rather three.

book 1: Life with Athos
book 2: Life after Athos
book 3: Ben and Jakob's effect/legacy

I found that these three points in the novel as very transitional. Obvious growing up with Athos set up Jakob's future, and made him into the man he was after Athos' death. but the essence left behind by Athos was something unique and special, only obvious to Jakob. Jakob unintentionally repeated the mistakes of Athos at different points in the story. He eventually found happiness, though, while Athos chose not to remarry.

In a way, both Athos and Jakob were commited to the dead: Athos and his wife who passed away, and Jakob and his dedication to Athos and Bella. their commitment to the departed stiffles their lives, as if they are unable to breathe without the breath of those they have loved and lost.

The way Jakob holds onto the memory of Bella is so unique to me. I found it odd that its her he misses the most passionately, even though he did not even realize he didn't see her body with her parents. She was an after thought, in this respect. i wonder if maybe it was the guilt of not wanting to protect/find/know the fate of his sister immediately that caused Jakob to crave her presence so badly. the curiousity of Bella's fate was consuming.

The Writing:
I truly loved the style in which this story was written . the poetic emphasis was seen throughout the entire story, in while describing horrific events, the writing came th rough as stunningly beautiful. While this is not my favorite of stories, the writing is something unforgetable. the use of imagery and elegent language is unforgetable. Michaels is a truly talented writer.

as an aspiring author, Michaels stands out incredibly. the eloquence of the story even as it expressed times of turmoil and bitter sadness radiats a brillance unique to Michaels. Her poetic background is what made this novel so powerful and moving.

Admin Issues

Last post for today - I promise! Just a reminder to everyone that there is no class next week. I will be away at a conference all week and will not be checking my email regularly. We will reconvene on Tuesday, March 25th, when we will watch the film of the EP and spend some time in our discussion comparing book and text.

There will also be no class on April 8th. Instead, I am expecting each one of you to schedule a slightly longer appointment with me to discuss your papers, topics and ideas, etc. This can be during that week, or earlier. I will be out of town Aptril 8th and 9th, however.

The process for the final papers has changed. We discussed this in class yesterday, but I have had more information about dealines and so on, and so can now formalize the dates and process. We changed the due date for the final paper to Monday, April 14th. I will mark these ASAP and return them to you on Thursday, April 17th (you can pick them up at the office). You will be given an opportunity to revise your papers after this date, based on my comments, and hand them in again on Monday, April 21st. There will be no extensions after this time, so this is an opportunity that you can avail yourselves of, or not - if I haven't received a revised draft on the Monday, I will submit the original mark from the 17th.

I hope that this works for everyone!

Transgenerational War Trauma - Children

So, here are some thoughts on that other essay topic that we discussed in class. You could start with a discussion of Fugitive Pieces and how that novel shows that war, or the effects of war, don't stop with those who have been directly involved in it. The character of Ben, in particular, reveals how the legacy of war continues on into future generations. It is especially through his recounting of childhood memories that we see this, as he is the child of Holocaust survivors. There are certain characteristics that he shares with his (or as a result of) his parents' experiences, as well as Jakob's experiences during the war. And Jakob's memories, of course, are also childhood memories. For example, usually childhood memories are tinged with nostalgia for the past. But this isn't the case with either of these characters. There are a few, isolated, memories that Jakob can resurrect that might be described as nostalgic (memories of Bella playing the paino, for instance) but there are not many. It's as if the music has stopped with her death.

But it's not just the children of Holocaust survivors that are impacted by war history. While the children of Holocaust survivors may have specific legacies, children, in general, whose parents have been damaged by the war also suffer. We see this in Matt Pearson's son, who rejects his father, runs away from home, and so on - and Matt can't really cope with his family in the ways that he perhaps should. In fact, it is interesting that, in some ways he is closer to Charlie than his own son. What is that all about? And what are the effects of this on the children? We get much of the story of Broken Ground through a young person's eyes - and it seems that the war isn't over for any of them.

One of the questions that you could ask yourself is when you think that the effects of war end, and how it constructs history through the generations. Think about the specificity of Ben's experiences - can they be generalized to Charlie and Tanner, or are they quite different? How? Can we generalize to some extent, and then we have to focus on the differences? Or - ?

You could approach this partly in terms of beginnings, middles, and endings. When does a war really begin? End?

Just some thoughts that you can feel free to use in your writing.

The role of Morphine in EP and Three Day Road

So, I was thinking about some of the ways that one couold develop a topic ddiscussing the role of morphine in the novels (The English Patient and Three Day Road). It seems to me that these books complicate or problematize the way that we, as readers, might think about the use of drugs in the context of war. In both instances, the drug is used as a way of staving off (physical) pain - in the case of the EP as a way of soothing his final days - death from burns is very painful. In the case of Xavier, after his amputation. However, it also seems that the morphine has another (at least one other) role - it brings out the stories of these characters through flashback memories.

In the case of Xavier, he doesn't seem to have much control over which memories are resurrected; in the case of the EP, Almasy seems to stay on track, but the drug brings him to telling his story in more detail than he has thus far in the novel. So, in a sense, this narcotic also eases psychic pain. Ironically, in the case of Xavier, while the memories are painful, it seems as though he needs to resurrect them so that he can make sense of the past. In the case of the EP, it is not Almasy that needs the story (he does remember, it seems) but the other characters in the novel. Carravaggio, for instance, seems to restore pieces of himself once he is able to let go of trying to "convict" Almasy in his mind.

And then there are the ways that the drug works for Elijah, in particular, and to a lesser extent, Caravaggio. It's unclear from the narration whether Elijah's descent into hell is assisted by his chronic use of the morphine, or whether the morphine acts to deaden his humanity. This could be explored a little - have a look at some of the references in the text. Caravaggio, it seems, doesn't "need" the morphine in the same way - but then again, perhaps he does. I wonder if the significance of his sharing morphine with the EP in that one section of of the novel is important? The characters do seem to bond over this; it takes this experience for Caravaggio to find some sense of peace since he has lost his thumbs...

All in all, both novels present a view of morphine use in the context of both physical and pyschic trauma, and doesn't seem to make a value judgement on these. Xavier, however, does seem aware that it is not a good thing, and that he must kick the drug once he is home. Interestingly, the drug which has released his memories (stories) must now be kicked through more stories (Niska's).

So, these are some thoughts. Do feel free to use them in any essay that you are writing.

Anne's Response to Fugitive Pieces

READER RESPONSE FOR FUGITIVE PIECES

I loved the emotions that Anne Michaels got stirred up in me. I cried and I laughed. I was angry and shocked. From the third page of the story, I was absolutely gripped: “I wanted to go to my parents, to touch them. But I couldn’t, unless I stepped on their blood” (7). I wanted to cry (and did) for this little boy, for all the kids and their families affected by this tragedy.

I love the way Michaels wove together her words – very poetic and striking. For me, this style worked incredibly well because as a female, it struck my emotional and romantic side. For example, when I compare the love-making scenes from Three Day Road to Fugitive Pieces, the latter wins, no contest. Michaels wrote in a more sensual style that appealed to me more. “Then I realize she’s entirely concentrated, pinioned under my tongue, that she’d giving me the most extravagant permission to roam the surface of her” (180). If only my Colin talked like that!
While the basic point of the this story is survival, I also believe it is about love. Michaela’s love for Jakob opens a whole new compartment in him that Alex was not able to open. I also think that it is Michaela’s love that allows Jakob to experience a degree of healing. We talked about this in class and I think it was Holly who said “but does anyone ever really heal from that?” I agree. A person never forgets traumatic events that happen to them. Those events shape and mold you as time goes on. But I do think there can be healing with the aid of the right devices. For Jakob, the devices are writing and Michaela’s love.

Regarding the end section of the novel: at first, it bothered me that new characters were being introduced to tell the rest of the story. As I’ve skimmed through the end part again, and after Tuesday’s class, I am beginning to feel less hostile towards it. I’m not sure who said it but something to the effect of “war touched generations” was said. I agree wholly with that and Ben portrays this. All his life, any discomfort, shame, or anguish that he felt has come from his parents and their experiences. They did not talk about anything with him yet his life was shaped by the trauma they felt. Ben finally achieved freedom/healing form his parent’s past: “in my hotel room the before I leave Greece, I know the elation of ordinary sorrow. At last my unhappiness is my own” (292). He may not be fully healed as he still had to work through that unhappiness as well as his relationship with Naomi, but there is partial healing. Contradictorily, some of it is due to his affair with Petra.

One a last note, I need to add that despite the fact that Ben’s parents did not verbalize their feelings or experiences, they did communicate to Ben. He was just not able to identify it until his ‘healing.’ The quote is on page 294 and he sees his parent’s drawing strength from each other. All along, Ben’s parents had been each other’s source of strength. They had survived together and even though they loved Ben, what they had was for them. Ben only saw the outer surface of the picture that his parents represented. Thankfully, he was able to go beyond the superficial exterior and see his parents for who and what they truly were. We would all be better off if we could live by the last sentence of the novel: I see that I must give what I need most.