This book is written in 2, (or 3?), parts, and I fell in love with the first part. It’s a somewhat tragic but romantic story of a kid making his way in post-war London with a fascinating cast of characters.
But the rest of the book is weird and disjointed. While the first part is completely narrated by the kid, the second part is, I think, sometimes narrated by him but sometimes narrated by an omniscient voice that just appears to narrate sometimes. Or maybe the narrator is still the, (now grown up), kid but he somehow knows stuff that he probably shouldn’t know. I’m not sure if this was done on purpose or if Michael Ondaatje wasn’t sure how to put the rest of the story together. Maybe, because the kid’s life is disjointed and doesn’t turn out how we want it Mr. Ondaatje is doing the same thing with the way he tells the story. If that is the case it was not satisfying to me as the reader, but did disturb my perception of the story to mirror how the narrator’s life was shaken up.
