The English Patient (0)

"The English Patient " is the most well- known book by Canadian writer, poet and academician. The main activity happens in 1930.-1940. Egipt and during the last days of World War II in one Italy nunnery which was changed after the war to sickbay.

• Almásy is not English. He is Hungarian by birth . Almásy's manner is knowledgeable and reflective. Almásy is not a highly dynamic character , he is intriguing and mysterious figure . He is portrayed in a sympathetic light . He was part of a British archaeological group and also as afterwards reveals a spy.
  
• Hana was a twenty - year -old Canadian Army nurse . She put all of her energy into caring for the English Patient. When the hospital was abandoned, Hana refused to leave and instead stayed with her patient. She sees Almásy as saint like and with the "hipbones of Christ". She falls in love with the English Patient in a purely non- sexual way. She also cut off her hair and she didn't look anymore to mirrors .
  
• David Caravaggio was friend of her father . He was Canadian thief and also a spy. During one mission he was captured by camera and when he was trying to find those photos he was taken by German captors. They cut off his thumbs. He, physically and mentally, could no longer steal , having " lost his nerve ". Caravaggio is also addicted to morphine, like Almásy.
  
• Kip is an Indian Sikh. Kip is maybe the most conflicted character of the novel . Kip and Hana become lovers and, through that, Kip begins to regain confidence and a sense of community.
  
• Katharine Clifton was young married women . She was one of the most mysterious characters in the novel, Katharine was never fully understood . She was beautiful, with a stunning voice and passionate. Almásy's clear -minded and otherwise rational thinking , however, was clouded by the entrance of Katharine Clifton into his life. He becomes obsessed with images of her body , which then inspired the writing of his book.
  
• Geoffrey Clifton a young, good -natured, affable man was Katharine's husband .
  
• Madox is a rational, level-headed man. Madox always carried a copy of Anna Karenina, the famous tale of adultery.
  

World War II was over and everywhere were injured soldiers . One of the patients was the burned man. Hana, young nurse, decided to stay with her in old damaged villa in Italy. In the villa there were library, mostly with Italian books , kitchen , courtyard, and many more or less retention rooms . The English patient's room was like arbour, walls covered with painted trees . Hana washed him after every four day and read him every day pieces from books
One day, a man with bandaged hands named Caravaggio arrived at the villa. He was an old family friend of Hana's father and he had heard about her location while he was recovering in a hospital a few miles away . In Canada , where Caravaggio knew Hana years ago, he was a thief. He told her that the Germans caught him after an attempt to steal a camera from a woman's room. They cut off his thumbs. Although he had recovered somewhat, he was still addicted to morphine. Hana had little garden outside where she grew vegetables and she thought that maybe David could use he's ability to steel something better also. Caravaggio refused, because he had "lost his nerve". Caravaggio felt that the English patient is not English and tried to get information from him.
Hana played the piano in library and two sappers arrived. One of them was Kip. He knew that Germans used to put bombs into the musical instruments and he stopped Hana. One day Kip was neutralising one bomb and discovered that there were used a new technique and he was suddenly trapped, because he hold in both hands wires and he knew that he can't fell them down, because otherwise it would blow up everything. Hana walked towards him and asked maybe he needs help. Hana stood motionless, hands holding the wires. Kip wanted her to leave, but Hana refused and hold. Bomb was neutralised. Hana fell asleep, holding her head on his breast. Their romance started .
A while Kip was dealing with the bombs David helped Almasy to recall his past. He used morphine. Almasy started talking. His job was to make observations, draw maps, and search for ancient oases in the sands. In 1936 Geoffrey Clifton and his new wife Katharine, joined their party . Geoffrey owned a plane , which the party found especially useful in helping to map the desert . In one night Katharine read one passage form Herodotus. Almasy realised that he loves her and her voice. They became lovers. He was crazy about her. He wanted to claim her right shoulder he's, but he reconsidered, because he loved hallow under the neck. In 1938, Katharine broke off their affair , telling Almasy that Geoffrey would go mad if he ever found out. Geoffrey somehow found out about the affair. When World War II broke out in 1939, the members of the exploration team decided to pack up base camp , and Geoffrey offered to pick up Almásy in his plane. However, Geoffrey Clifton arrived with Katharine and tried to kill all three of them by crashing the plane. Geoffrey Clifton died immediately. Katharine survived, but was horribly injured. Almásy took her to "the cave of swimmers” and left to find help. After four days, he reached a town, but the British were suspicious of him because he had a foreign surname. They locked him up as a spy. When Almasy escaped it was too late to save Katharine. He helped Germans and after three years he went back to desert and found Katharine. He put her to the plane and started flying. That is the part, how the story started. Plane made the crash and Almasy got burnt.

• In my opinion this book was worth of reading , though firsty it seemned rather confusing, because sometimes I coulnd't catch who was the narrative . Book was enthralling and interesting to read. There was used a lot of adjectives to make an imagery to reader and that helped to follow the writers thoughts.
  

Philip Michael Ondaatje (1943)
He was educated at the University of Toronto and Queen 's University in Kingston , Ontario, and began teaching at York University in Toronto in 1971 . He published a volume of memoir, entitled Running in the Family, in 1983. His collections of poetry include The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems (1981), which won the Canadian Governor General's Award in 1971; The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems (1989); and Handwriting: Poems (1998).
His first novel, Coming Through Slaughter (1976), is a fictional portrait of jazz musician Buddy Bolden. The English Patient (1992), set in Italy at the end of the Second World War, was joint winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction and was made into an Academy Award- winning film in 1996. Anil's Ghost (2000), set in Sri Lanka , tells the story of a young female anthropologist investigating war crimes for an international human rights group .

What loved the Almasy about the Katharine the most?

When Hana and the English patient arrived to the villa, from where Hana took her sneakers? Was she allowed to do it?

In library in what language most books were written?