' In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals'.
A novel which starts with this line will give you a list of expectations. And for me, Warlight fell short of a lot of them. Except Ondaatje's writing style. I loved it. There is an endearing flow to his story telling that keeps you hooked even if the plot doesn't.
The Story
Essentially about Nathaniel,a young boy, reminiscing the past. He had his 16 year old sister Rachel are left by their parents who have dubious military objectives or missions. The nonplussed teenagers are left with some shady but interesting characters. Nathaniel keeps putting the pieces of his puzzled life back and forth to attain some semblance to the disillusionment towards his parents, his sister's anger and their flustered youth.
Along with them we are exposed to an England which is grappling with post-war puddles. Nevertheless, there are 'friends' and 'guardians' who fill up their hollow minds and the echoing abandonment of Ruvigny Gardens,their home. There are late night shenanigans with a girl Agnes who Nathaniel fondly misses, transportation of contraband goods and illegal greyhound racing dogs. However none of the above is criminal as the supposed background of the story - espionage. Neither of the happenings above bring any twists to the story as much as Rachel and Nathaniel being kidnapped one day and finding that his mother was around them, secretly. That is how the first part of the novel ends.
The second part is years later when a 28 year old Nathaniel is hopefully finding a closure to his fragmented youth. He buys a house near his mom's old one in Suffolk in order to find anything to make the ' indistinct maps 'of his youth more stable.
Where was his mother?
Is this a wartime novel?
Does it glorify war?
As Nathaniel asks in the novel 'What kind of family were we a part of now?'
The Characters
Nathaniel - The protagonist. the narrator. The lost youth. He gives a vivid portrayal of the town and of his life. There is a melancholy in his reconstruction about Agnes, his family, Moth and the elusiveness of his life.
Rachel - While Nathaniel is the narrator, the emotional mess and depth of the family is actually depicted by her. Her anger towards her mom and the recklessness of their life is in her actions and her silence.
The mom - A supposed spy. A strong lady. A mystery to her children. A question to the readers.
Moth - Intended to show him as a mysterious person. There is not much said about him and the description about him is intentionally crisp,adding to the abstruseness of the book.
Darter - A knowledgeable man. Sort of like Man Friday. Street smart.
The other supporting characters are Agnes, Olive, Marsh, Nkoma and Arthur McCash. The father dies in Asia but thats about what is given in the book.
A book of memory, of splintered lives and hope, Warlight is best summarized in Nathaniel's own words ;
' Is this how we discover truth,evolve? By gathering together such unconfirmed fragments? ...Will all of them who have remained incomplete and lost to me become clear and evident when I look back? Otherwise how do we survive that forty miles of bad terrain during adolescence that we crossed without any truthful awareness of ourselves? '
Themes - family, young adult, war.
A novel which starts with this line will give you a list of expectations. And for me, Warlight fell short of a lot of them. Except Ondaatje's writing style. I loved it. There is an endearing flow to his story telling that keeps you hooked even if the plot doesn't.
The Story
Essentially about Nathaniel,a young boy, reminiscing the past. He had his 16 year old sister Rachel are left by their parents who have dubious military objectives or missions. The nonplussed teenagers are left with some shady but interesting characters. Nathaniel keeps putting the pieces of his puzzled life back and forth to attain some semblance to the disillusionment towards his parents, his sister's anger and their flustered youth.
Along with them we are exposed to an England which is grappling with post-war puddles. Nevertheless, there are 'friends' and 'guardians' who fill up their hollow minds and the echoing abandonment of Ruvigny Gardens,their home. There are late night shenanigans with a girl Agnes who Nathaniel fondly misses, transportation of contraband goods and illegal greyhound racing dogs. However none of the above is criminal as the supposed background of the story - espionage. Neither of the happenings above bring any twists to the story as much as Rachel and Nathaniel being kidnapped one day and finding that his mother was around them, secretly. That is how the first part of the novel ends.
The second part is years later when a 28 year old Nathaniel is hopefully finding a closure to his fragmented youth. He buys a house near his mom's old one in Suffolk in order to find anything to make the ' indistinct maps 'of his youth more stable.
Where was his mother?
Is this a wartime novel?
Does it glorify war?
As Nathaniel asks in the novel 'What kind of family were we a part of now?'
The Characters
Nathaniel - The protagonist. the narrator. The lost youth. He gives a vivid portrayal of the town and of his life. There is a melancholy in his reconstruction about Agnes, his family, Moth and the elusiveness of his life.
Rachel - While Nathaniel is the narrator, the emotional mess and depth of the family is actually depicted by her. Her anger towards her mom and the recklessness of their life is in her actions and her silence.
The mom - A supposed spy. A strong lady. A mystery to her children. A question to the readers.
Moth - Intended to show him as a mysterious person. There is not much said about him and the description about him is intentionally crisp,adding to the abstruseness of the book.
Darter - A knowledgeable man. Sort of like Man Friday. Street smart.
The other supporting characters are Agnes, Olive, Marsh, Nkoma and Arthur McCash. The father dies in Asia but thats about what is given in the book.
A book of memory, of splintered lives and hope, Warlight is best summarized in Nathaniel's own words ;
' Is this how we discover truth,evolve? By gathering together such unconfirmed fragments? ...Will all of them who have remained incomplete and lost to me become clear and evident when I look back? Otherwise how do we survive that forty miles of bad terrain during adolescence that we crossed without any truthful awareness of ourselves? '
Themes - family, young adult, war.
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