Running in the Family

Once again, the first section of a book left me completely confused. Just like the Liar's Club, this book left me with a lot of questions. The author jumps around a lot and uses descriptions a lot like Mary Karr did. That said, I did enjoy what I read. The life of Michael Ondaatje seems very eventful and exciting to read about. Also, I like how he wrote about his families past. He didn't start with just his parents, he started with his grandparents and their stories which all impacted his life in some way. I am still not totally sure exactly what I learned about the author or what the purpose of his memoir is but I definitely think I will find out shortly.

I like how the author splits stories up into short chapters with decisive titles, but within the chapters things get confusing. Although the chapter title insinuates a certain point in time, while reading it I felt like I was reading about many different times and places. It adds a lot of description to the writing but it leaves the reader wondering what exactly he is trying to get across to us. In just the first 50 or so pages, there was a lot of information thrown at us, and I think it was somewhat overwhelming.

Overall, I like the authors writing style but I hope throughout the rest of the book things become more clear. As I said I think he had a really interesting life that was influenced by many different family members and I am interested to hear about all that he went through. The short chapters make this somewhat of a quick read, but the jumping around makes me go back and re read a lot to fully understand what Michael is trying to say.