Comments (20)

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Jul 31, 2023KatTheGreat rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
In the Skin of a Lion delves into the story of immigrants who built the infrastructure for the city of Toronto - bridges, aqueducts, water purification plants, essential infrastructure that helped make Toronto a metropolitan city, at the…
Feb 16, 20221aa rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
An extremely well-crafted book: each sentence carves out a gentle blend of images, metaphors, sounds, and meanings that are a little surprising and a natural development of what came before. The overall arc of the book is harder to…
Nov 04, 2020TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
One of the best English novels I’ve ever read. Ondaatje did an incredible job writing this novel. The story is carefully planned and well performed. It’s very obvious that Ondaatje is very sophisticated in language. His use of intrinsic…
Jul 13, 2020atlbrazos rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Perhaps my favorite of Ondaatje's work. Beautiful story of immigration in turn-of-the century Toronto. His background as a poet is on full display in the diction of this story.
Nov 24, 2018esgouliaras rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is the first of the Toronto author's novels I read, and oh my god, I was blown away. Poetic, romantic language, stunning and harsh imagery and plot development. Start with this, and keep on reading; there are so many novels, works of…
Jun 19, 2018RogerDeBlanck rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
In the Skin of a Lion is at once a spellbinding tale of self-discovery, a tragic love affair, and a searing mystery. It is a novel exploring the depths of identity, remorse, failure, and hope. When Patrick Lewis leaves the wilderness of…
Jan 22, 2018stewstealth rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A bit disjointed story line but with poetic prose. The characterization was done well. Trying to tie the story threads together along with the historical aspects was tenuous but the book is a fairly quick read and an interesting story.…
Aug 15, 2016KABuck rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This book is a fierce reminder that Michael Ondaatje will always be a poet before a novelist. His story, one of his city of Toronto, is so chalk-full of bizarre imagery, unique dialogue, explicitly intimate encounters, and stunningly…
Jun 05, 2016rheal4 rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
I found this book did not flow well and was somewhat disjointed. Maybe that's the "poetry" of his writing but I didn't particularly like it.
Sep 14, 2015
An interesting tale of aloneness even in crowds in the city and what love can bring one to do.
Jul 06, 2014
A carefully crafted novel that shines with intelligence. however, overall,I personally didn't find it to be a page turner. I wasn't really hooked. To be fair, at some chapters I find myself eager to turn the next page. This novel…
Mar 13, 2014
I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book or not. It was a relatively easy read and interesting enough, but I'm luke warm about it. It felt like I was reading a book assigned by an English Lit teacher. I also couldn't help getting caught up…
silverajaxlibrary
Oct 04, 2013silverajaxlibrary rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I read this book for a Canadian History class in 2 days. What I enjoyed the most was the telling of a rarely told story of (Macedonian) immigrants who basically built the city of Toronto, by working in dangerous and dirty jobs. For those…
May 13, 2013
On the plane, I found a lady who is a lawyer and a graduate of Wharton Business School. I asked her what book she was reading and she showed me this book saying that it was by the same author who wrote the English Patient. I was intrigued…
Jan 24, 2013
Jan 24 2013, I chose to read this as it was the first book to win the "Canada Reads" in 2002. I have heard so much about it, that I finally decided to give it a go. Starting it today, hope I enjoy it, as my last book didn't live up to my…
Aug 24, 2012musicv rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I liked the story. It was my first book that I read by Ondaatje. I like the discription of the bulding of the water plant.
Jun 08, 2012120bass rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Interesting juxtaposition of images set in historic Toronto and Muskoka during the 1920s and 1930s. Flawed and compelling characters. A great story that tries to capture the immigrant experience.
Dec 25, 2011jbazal rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Great story. Had to read it for my class, but re-read it after the course was finished.
Sep 19, 2011laurenryan rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Some beautiful writing, but novel doesn't hang together well... difficult to follow a disjointed story line.
Feb 18, 2009mariaf rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Not an impressive book.