Comments (59)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 59 items
Aug 10, 2022wyenotgo rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
There is much to like here, especially the night-time adventures with The Darter. And the gritty reality of the lingering aftermath of war — demonstrating once again that war never really settles any grievance and sometimes even death…
Jul 19, 2022DBRL_IdaF rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This book started strong and finished a little less strong. Ondaatje's use of language is so masterful, I would gladly read his writing all day just for that. But I found the resolution (if you could even call it that) to this story…
May 04, 2022DracAthos rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed this title a lot more than I had expected too. Nathaniel's story gripped me and wouldn't let go as we walked through the mystery of post war London. The style of writing fit the story as we danced through his memories.…
May 29, 2021janemccabe rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The author is so skilled at creating this war torn city, and its canals, and the questionable characters who use them for smuggling. Nathaniel and Rachel adroitly survive in this fluid underworld. You are rooting for them the whole way.
Mar 24, 2021
3/5 Warlight is a story that takes place in post-WW2, 1945 United Kingdom. Nathaniel is a 14-year-old boy who is left with his sister, Rachel to live with a strange man named ‘The Moth’ after both parents leave them to go to Singapore…
Feb 20, 2021
Book Club book
Feb 06, 2021cbickerton rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I second what JamesMallory said. Although the writing can be quite beautiful I found the story boring. I too resisted the urge to scan forward, and kept hoping to be proven wrong. I wasn’t. If you do not feel enthralled by the first 100…
Feb 05, 2021JamesMallory rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
What an awful book. The writing is beautiful, but the first half of the book is just a rambling incoherence of a childhood life of two siblings that are left by their parents and seem to enter the world of a bunch of random criminals. …
Jan 19, 2021mko123 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I listened to the audio and felt like i was right there, in shadowy post-war London, being told an elaborate secret. This would make a good film noir movie, full of characters you want to know but cannot quite grasp.
Oct 25, 2020candyswart rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A gentle and fascinating look at post war London, at the ongoing spying activities seen through the eyes of a teenager who has been abandoned by his mother as she keeps fighting this silent and little known of war.
Sep 18, 2020marydave rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is not my usual cup of tea (I'd rather read history than historical novels), but this grabbed me from the start. So much intrigue, so many teasers. It read so well that I even resisted the temptation (rarely resisted!) to peek at…
Aug 06, 2020Ky68RasK rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
One critic says this is his best novel since "The English Patient." Not having read it, I can't speak to that, but this is beautifully written, character-driven fiction. The narrator/protagonist is a wounded soul whose enigmatic mother…
Jun 06, 2020mlhadley1 rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Interesting of London life for those that were undercover during the war. And how they were still being sought. Not too compelling.
Dec 23, 2019AaronAardvark1940 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A well-researched historical novel, this is a jigsaw puzzle of a book. Another of our "project" books, this appealed to my wife's love of mysteries and to my interest in the historical background. We worked together to understand the hints…
Nov 02, 2019sharon711 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Ondaatje gives us a nostalgic story lyrically told, about reinterpreting our archived childhood memories from the vantage point of adulthood. It helps when those memories plunk us in the middle of wartime espionage and disrupt our sense of…
Oct 31, 2019
Post WWII London
Oct 06, 2019JAL49 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Central question of this novel: When we’re unsure of our own family histories, what kind of faulty narratives do we construct to tell ourselves who we are, who our parents were (or still are) and who we should feel loyal to? I lik e…
Aug 05, 2019m0mmyl00 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A teen aged brother and sister are left by their parents in the care of some pretty shady characters. More than a year later, the children (now young adults) discover their had been working on secret missions for the British government. It…
Jul 08, 2019MaryJoSchifsky rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Excellent--"warlight" is that of a blue light on a bridge during bombing raids, directing barges Young man w sister, Dad leaves, then Mom--he learns, as an adult that his Mom works in espionage and is very good at it. She's assassinated,…
Jul 01, 201929Rowena rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book. I loved the writing and the stories woven around activities during war time England and other surprising things too! It’s the kind of book that stays with me for days and likely for weeks afterwards.
Jun 22, 2019Papadog rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Great writing, great characters, (with ones such as the Moth, the Dipper...you can just feel who and what they are through the writing),...and no surprise from Ondaatje. Intriguing story, but above all it's the writing that kept me hooked.
Jun 16, 2019LucasHill rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A grand adventure novel that literally grabs you from the first line, lures you through the history of Britain in WWII, and dares you with the notion that life changes all of us, despite our wishes to conserve what we are in any given…
May 16, 2019fred98115 rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
It is World War Two and two children are shuffled between different locations, staying with eccentric characters, while, unknown to them, their parents are aiding Britain's war effort. Told from the perspective of the eldest child, a son,…
Apr 05, 2019nalahblueberry5 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Gives you a good feel for living in a time of war where things are not real cut and dried. Some beautiful imagery. I like Ondaatje.
Mar 04, 2019poodlegirl rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
This might be the only book I've ever given 2 stars to. It was excruciatingly SLOW! Not a spoiler but only the ending was interesting to me...and, not that much.