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Warlight  By  cover art

Warlight

By: Michael Ondaatje
Narrated by: Steve West
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Publisher's summary

From the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of The English Patient: a mesmerizing new novel that tells a dramatic story set in the decade after World War II through the lives of a small group of unexpected characters and two teenagers whose lives are indelibly shaped by their unwitting involvement.

In a narrative as beguiling and mysterious as memory itself - shadowed and luminous at once - we follow the story of 14-year-old Nathaniel, and his older sister, Rachel.

In 1945, just after World War II, they stay behind in London when their parents move to Singapore, leaving them in the care of a mysterious figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and they grow both more convinced and less concerned as they come to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women joined by a shared history of unspecified service during the war, all of whom seem, in some way, determined now to protect, and educate (in rather unusual ways) Rachel and Nathaniel.

But are they really what and who they claim to be? And what does it mean when the siblings' mother returns after months of silence without their father, explaining nothing, excusing nothing? A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins to uncover all that he didn't know and understand in that time, and it is this journey - through facts, recollection, and imagination - that he narrates in this masterwork from one of the great writers of our time.

©2018 Michael Ondaatje (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"London-born narrator Steve West effortlessly mixes tones of mystery, uncertain memory, sophistication, and innocence in Ondaatje's latest novel.... A wholly original listening experience." (AudioFile)

Warlight is a quiet new masterpiece from Michael Ondaatje… An elegiac thriller [with] the immediate allure of a dark fairy tale. In Warlight, all is illuminated, at first dimly then starkly, but always brilliantly.” (Anna Mundow, The Washington Post)

“If writers are cartographers of the heart, Michael Ondaatje’s oeuvre could fill an atlas...[he] evokes a kaleidoscope of ideas and moods with exquisite lyricism... Warlight is an intricate ballet of longing and deception, and a singular ode to the mother-child bond .” (Hamilton Cain, O Magazine)

What listeners say about Warlight

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

It both entertains and teaches.

I wavered between 4 and 5 stars for this beautifully crafted novel. It is my second read of an Ondaatje book, having read The English Patient a few months ago. I like this one much more. Ondaatje wove together a story with so many elements and characters and it was easy to follow because all of it captured me and held me hostage. I stayed up until 4 am to finish listening. His writing is marvelous. Rich and textured.

There are many wonderful reviews covering themes, but I want to focus on one thing that really made me think. As another reviewer said, the book has an interesting discussion of the fluidity of borders. This element of the story was riveting. Fascinating. I learned so much about the limitations of my own childhood education. I was a child of the 1960s and 1970s, raised in the midwest of the United States. I was a child of working class, blue collar parents. I never met a person who wasn't American (and mostly white, western European Americans with no connection to their country of heritage). I never had a teacher who was an immigrant or the child of immigrants. I never met a person with a foreign accent. And when I learned anything about other continents. I saw a map with the borders of the day. Nobody even mentioned that those borders had ever been disputed. Nobody ever discussed the fact that WW2 drastically changed the look of the European map. It wasn't until I was a young adult in the USAF and traveling a great deal that I started to learn how variable borders can be, but even then it was discussed with prejudice. If a border was in dispute there was a right side and a wrong side. And the right side was always the one we were protecting. It was an ethnocentric world. This book examined the notion of borders so well because it showed the reader much of the post-WW2 political game that was played within Europe and its approach to the topic was intriguing and thought-provoking without being judgmental.

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88 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Instant favorite

I loved every single thing about this book. The gorgeous prose. The people inhabiting the story. The pitch perfect narration. I kept slowing down and listening to chapters over just to extend the book and savor every morsel one more time. Perfection.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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BRILLIANT

I am always awed by the prose of Mr Odaatje. This book is an incredible example of his writing style, and perfectly narrated by Steve West. The story is an unwinding tale of wonderful intriguing character connections, with post World War ll as a backdrop. Part mystery, part romance, and an overall seeking of connection. A MUST READ!

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34 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Not ideal for an audiobook

I suspect that this book would be fine reading it normally, but as an audiobook, it's incredibly difficult to engage with the story and want to keep listening. The narrator does a very good job, but the nature of the prose is working heavily against him.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Can’t believe how boring this book was

I was so excited to read this book because I loved the English Patient. This book never developed s sympathetic character, and it was just flat boring! I should have returned it at 3 hours, but I was convinced the story would be redeemed! Sadly, it wasn’t!

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I loved this book and Steve West's reading

I was probably only an hour into listening to this book before I decided I had to _read_ it, too, so I bought the hardback. Some of the passages were so beautiful I had to savor the words at my own pace. Listening through the middle section, just before the transition to the second half, I did begin to wonder whether the beautiful, but slowing story would pick up. But the events and revelations at the mid-point hit me like a lightning strike and I was riveted from there to the very end. Don't give up. You will be rewarded. I'm going back to listen to that section which I now realize was so important. The world of post-WW2 London (and Europe) is a fascinating era and reading this book sent me to the library for more. Steve West is a wonderful reader and I look forward to hearing him again.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but not engaging

The story was interesting but it never quite pulled me in or became exciting. This was partly due to the organization — the timeline jumps around a bit which was sometimes difficult to follow in an audio book — but I think mostly due to the narration style. The narrator‘s voice is well-modulated and easy to listen to, but conveys all the excitement of a commentator for a televised golf tournament. The voice doesn’t communicate anything of the emotions of the characters or of an observer, nor does it tell the listener anything about what’s important and what’s not. That said, the story did have me curious enough to finish the book even though I was aware of the limitations well before the halfway point.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Confusing story - drony performance

This book was so well reviewed that I thought it was worth a credit, but, after a painful bout of listening, I have to say I am disappointed. The story was disjointed, the narration was overbearing, and the end result was that I was just relieved when it ended. There's a lesson here: Top quality writing is wasted if the story isn't any good, and the storyteller isn't a good match for the story.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Warlight sheds light on how different every reader is. Maybe it’s just me?

Strong reviews and the synopsis had me at the start. Two chapters in and it had not delivered yet so I trudged on. Both reading and listening to perhaps grasp anything missed. Rarely do I find a book that is just so empty of character development and story by the time the plot is established and picking up pace that I can just walk away. I found Warlight lacking in ALL of these areas and I struggled to find direct cause. Taste and views vary with each reader of course and most of the time it will have a lot to do with only this, not the book, style, genre, etc. It also has to be based on a reader’s prior knowledge of the subject if it is historical in content. Knowing this world and it’s history is key to reading and understanding many writers. I blame myself and not Mr. Ondaatje.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Kept waiting for something to happen

Slow moving. Listened @ 1.5 X so I could finish it. Weak story. Undeveloped story lines. Obvious things written as if profound. I didn’t care about the characters. How did this book become a bestseller???

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10 people found this helpful