In the Skin of a Lion

author
Michael Ondaatje

heads up
This book is, in part, the predecessor to Ondaatje's The English Patient. It is also, exponentially better.

plot synopsis in 50 words or fewer
Set in Toronto in the 1920's, In the Skin of a Lion loosely follows the story of Patrick Lewis--who trades his rural, boyhood community for a life in the city. "Gradually his life is entwined with Temelcoff, the Macedonian bridge builder; Caravaggio, the thief; an elusive business tycoon; and two passionate women--an actress and a revolutionary."

what really matters
The sparse, poetic writing and the almost dreamlike quality it creates.

what i thought
Reading In the Skin of a Lion was the first and only time that I stayed up all night to read a book. The next afternoon, when I finally woke up, I began the book again. It is a story with a fairytale-like quality, minus any ridiculous monarchy and/or amphibians. Concerned with the interconnectedness of human lives, Ondaatje's tale doubles back on itself, time and time again--using fierce and highly sensual visual imagery as the building blocks for an untraditional plot structure. Both his language and his story are precise, poetic, and deeply evocative.

how this book starts
This is a story a young girl gathers in a car during the early hours of the morning. She listens and asks questions as the vehicle travels through darkness. Outside, the countryside is unbetrayed. The man who is driving could say, "In that field is a castle," and it would be possible for her to believe him.

who else loved this book (or at least, say they did)
Maxine Hong Kingston ("A beautiful novel...It explodes into fantastic directions.")

Russell Banks (Michael Ondaatje's fiction is as original and evocative as any being written today. A brilliantly imaginative blend of history, lore, passion, and poetry, In the Skin of a Lion is his best book.")

Leon Edel (A dazzling novel of power and style, dealing with human situations through verbal cinema...An extraordinary performance...Ondaatje has invented a new form.")

other things this author has written
The English Patient
Coming Through Slaughter
Running in the Family
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
There's a Trick With a Knife I'm Learning to Do
Secular Love