This is an early novel by Michael Ondaatje, and a very good reminder (going back to The English Patient too) that Michael Ondaatje’s early writing is informed greatly by his also being a working poet. In this novel we follow along through a series of interviews and perspectives detailing the life of an early jazz and blues musician and photographer. This is novel captures the frenetic, violent, sexualized, entropic, chaotic, life of the musician. So the novel is short, explosive, and energetic throughout. I think a […]