I always put a lot of thought into my first read of the year. This Christmas season a few wonderful friends and I had a little book exchange; this was based on the Icelandic tradition Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood", when people exchange books as gifts on Christmas Eve, and then spend the rest of that night reading.
While we could not follow the exact tradition, we did exchange our books, and the first book of the year I completed was the one I received, Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje.
Though he is best known for "The English Patient", I had only read "Cat's Table" by Ondaatje before, and enjoyed it, as well as some of his poetry, so I was pretty excited. Plus, any chance to read more Canadian literature, I am pleased with.
This book begins in 1945, when 14-year-old Nathaniel and his sister, Rachel, are abandoned by their parents and left in the care of a mysterious man called "The Moth". They are pretty sure he is a criminal, but as time goes by, and their lives become entwined in the existence of The Moth and his eccentric group of friends, they become less concerned about his criminality and more concerned about the secrets being kept from them. Years later, Nathaniel, now an adult, works to unravel the mysteries of his youth.
This coming-of-age novel is set against the backdrop of the aftermath of war. It is interesting, and I was hooked right from the opening sentence: "In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals."
Though the plot is solid and the characters wonderful, the prose itself is the real strength of this novel. It's lyrical, and lovely. It is part wartime novel, part coming-of-age, part family drama, but all worded so eloquently, it was like music.
I read almost all of it in a day. One sitting, actually. The story, the characters, the words slid me along through the pages. Ondaatje writes beautifully, and his exploration of unique characters is masterful. I think this is a perfect example of his writing, his strengths.
I was rather pleased that this was my first read of 2019.
What have you read so far this year? Do you carefully choose a particular book to start the year off?