A review by roseice
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje

1.0

A frustrating, structureless narrative. I am of the belief that a novel must stand on its own two feet, must have a balanced and proper structure that is self-contained--no vague references taking up sections of the plot that are so obscure the reader becomes lost and fails to care. No specific outside information should be required (such as the names of lesser known writers) in order to gain the full impact of a scene. This novel was all over the place--an irresponsible mess of prose and narrative that was irritating to read. No amount of lovely sentences can win me over when a book has no plot, weak conflict and characters/relationships that are nowhere near fleshed out enough to even make me care about them a little bit. The sex scenes were grating and random, pointlessly repulsive, adding nothing to the story whatsoever. This is a disappointment of Canadian literature, and I'm rather ashamed books like this have come to represent Canadian lit at all.