In The Skin of a Lion

I chose to check out Michael Ondaatje's book, In The Skin of a Lion for two reasons. First, I had just recently rewatched The English Patient and was reminded what a fantastic story teller Ondaatje is. The second reason was a recommendation from an NPR series, "You Must Read This." Kamila Shamsie recommends it so thoroughly that she almost doesn't recommend it, for fear of anyone not loving it as much as she does.

In The Skin of a Lion is a dreamy story of Patrick, the son of a Canadian logger, his life, loves and friends. The narrative skirts between fiction and magical realism; a nun falling off a bridge is miraculously saved, but has a chance to change her identity and become an actress. Caravaggio (the thief from The English Patient) escapes jail by being painted blue. Patrick helps build a waterworks, and then subsequently swims through the plumbing with the aim of destroying it with dynamite. The lives of all the characters intersect and then pass. Like yarn on a loom, they are separate, but complete a whole.

I read most of this book on a rainy bus home from New York and was transported. I thought about books that I have loved and implored friends "they must read": The Living, by Annie Dillard, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence. I think it would be safe to add this book to that list as well.

Netflix rating, 5/5.