Ondaatje’s metaphors can feel forced, as when Rafael listens to Bach and hears “the desultory conversations of a wood pigeon.” But the author redeems any stumbles. The pastiche of prose, imagery, and testimony, the temporal leaps that often seemed obstructive in The English Patient — these are less disorienting in Divisadero. Here, Ondaatje’s collage is a splintered mirror that both reflects and dismembers history and memory. He never allows Anna, Claire, and Coop to reconstruct their lives, only to search for new configurations without resolve. “Going after lost things was as uncertain as prayer.”
MICHAEL ONDAATJE | Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | June 4 at 7 pm | 617.566.6660
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