Plot

 Plot

Unlike other normal novels, The English Patient has four narrators at the same time, and the stories jump between present and past from time to time. Basically, that is about four people sharing their story from the war. This is also a process of finding out the identity of the English patient.

The novel opens with Hana, a young nurse, gardening outside a villa in Italy in 1945. The European theater of the war has just ended with the Germans retreating up the Italian countryside. Though this is a quite dangerous place, Hana decides to stay in the villa with her patient.

Here she meets  Caravaggio, who is an old family friend of Hana's father. Caravaggio

tells her how his stealing skills were used for working for British Intelligence. He tells her that the Germans caught him after an attempt to steal a camera from a woman. They tortured him and cut off his thumbs, leaving his hands nearly useless. Although he has recovered a little bit, he is still addicted to morphine. In the villa, he reminisces with Hana and mourns with her over the death of her father in the war.

Later on, Kip, an Indian Sikh trained as a bomb-defuser in the British army shows up. To get rid of the bombs around the villa, he makes camp in the garden and becomes a part of the "family". Kip and the English patient get along very well, since they are both experts in guns and bombs and enjoy talking to each other and sharing stories. Kip's job is extremely dangerous, as he has to goes into town every day to clear more bombs from the area and to bury fellow sappers who have died . He also tells the story how he becomes close to Britain and becomes a sapper. Later, he and Hana fall in love with each other.

At the same time , the English patient starts to telling his past. His real name is Almasy, his job was to make observations, draw maps, and search for ancient oases in the desert. When he is working with Geoffrey Clifton, he falls in love with his wife—Katharine . They soon began a torrid and tumultuous affair. Unfortunately, Geoffrey somehow found out about the affair…….(I’m not telling you the best part of the book!) .This is an amazing but sad love story, I can actually feel how war destroys the love between Almasy and Katharine . “How does this happen? To fall in love and be disassembled.” ( Michael Ondaatje)

The first time, I realize the war everlasting pain is not from the physical aspect, but the mental aspect. People are telling their stories and sharing their emotions, the loss of relatives, the despaired love, the missing of friends……all of these appear in their minds . They know they should feel lucky to survival in the realistic and cruel world but it is just hard for them to take a breath. This gives me a new point view to understand what the war means to the people get involved in.