The Cinnamon Peeler [Hardcover]

Michael Ondaatje (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 1991

A selection of poems written between 1963-88 by Michael Ondaatje, the novelist, demonstrating an acute sense of story and social density.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Ondaatje's witty and elegant poems resemble the whimsical dreamscapes of Rousseau, except that they are tinged with a rueful, sometimes mocking, irony. The poems have the feel of being written in a lonely moonlit kitchen at 2 a.m. in an atmosphere of deeply savored melan
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

7 Or 8 Things I Know About Her -- A Stolen Biography
The Agatha Christie Books By The Window
All Along The Mazinaw
Application For A Driving License
Bearhug
Bessie Smith At Roy Thomson Hall
Billboards
Birch Bark
Birth Of Sound
Breeze
Buck Lake Store Auction
Burning Hills
Charles Darwin Pays A Visit, December 1971
The Cinnamon Peeler
Claude Glass
The Concessions
Country Night
Dates
The Diverse Causes
A Dog In San Francisco
Early Morning, Kingston To Gananoque
Elimination Dance
Elizabeth
Escarpment
Farre Off
For John, Falling
The Gate In His Head
The Goodnight
Griffin Of The Night
Henri Rousseau And Friends
Her House
Heron Rex
The Hour Of Cowdust
A House Divided
In A Yellow Room
King Kong Meets Wallace Stevens
Late Movies With Skyler
Letters & Other Worlds
Light
Loop
Moving Fred's Outhouse/geriatrics Of Pine
Near Elginburg
Pacific Letter
The Palace
Philoctetes On The Island
Pig Glass
Proust In The Waters
Pure Memory/chris Dewdney
Rat Jelly
Red Accordion -- An Immigrant Song
The River Neighbour
Rock Bottom
Sallie Chisum/last Words On Billy The Kid 4 A.m.
Signature
Sweet Like A Crow
Taking
The Time Around Scars
Tin Roof
To A Sad Daughter
Translations Of My Postcards
Uswetakeiyawa
The Vault
Walking To Bellrock
The Wars
We're At The Graveyard
When You Drive The Queensborough Roads At Midnight
White Dwarfs
Women Like You
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 194 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (May 14, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679402608
• ISBN-13: 978-0679402602
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,324,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, readable mixture of poems, December 18, 1999

By 

Russell Belfer (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems (Paperback)

Michael Ondaatje knows how to mix humor, beauty, sadness, and acute observation together to make lovely works of art. This collection contains a great variety of poetry, from simple and touching observations about his children, to deeply imagined distant moments of wonder. My favorite is "Pure Memory/Chris Dewdney" which actually made me cry twice for two different reasons when I first read it. I will say no more here. "Elimination Dance" is also a fun one to read out loud. "The Cinnamon Peeler" itself is a fantastic love poem. There is so much good stuff in this.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To understand Michael Ondaatje, read his poetry!, May 28, 2000

By 

Sunil Govinnage (PERTH Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems (Paperback)

Michael Ondaatje knows how to write poetry. Primarily, he is a poet. Secondly a novelist. This collection contains a great variety of poems about day to day life, love, marriage, deep observations about children, humour, history and many more.

My favourite poem is ""To a Sad Daughter" which has a universal appeal. Once, I read this poem to my wife just replacing the poet's daughter's infatuation: ice hockey players with our daughter's hobby. My wife remarked: "Great poem. So you write good poetry too!"

I also like other poems including "The Cinnamon Peeler", "A House Divided", "Women Like You", "Billboards" and "Postcard From Piccadilly Street".

Michael Ondaatje shares his great intimate moments with us including love, his recollection of places and relationships with us. If you want to understand Ondaatje's prose, one must begging with his poetry. For anyone `The Cinnamon Peeler' is an entry into a dark and deep labyrinth painted with human experience. When you come out of it, you'll be a different person.

This book is a one I read over and over again when I'm both sad and happy!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars his train of thought is so complex yet so simple..., July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems (Paperback)

I don't have much to say, but I must state my immense admiration for micheal ondaatje and his thought...his way of thinking reminds me of my own, like when he says in one of his poems with no name, "how we moved from thin ceramic to such destruction". I feel such romance and love from almost every single poem, even rat jelly! He doesn't restrict himself to using a certain amount of lines in his stanzas, and there's no rhyming. That makes his poetry more "true" and honest, like all poems should be. His works read rather like a novel and he could probably write a novel for each poem he's written, but they'd all be thrown in together eventually into one book, since they're all in a way connected. I love reading his poetry over and over again, the effect never wears out. I can't remember the name of my favourite poem from this book, but it's simply about him and his wife kicking each other in bed for the covers and the space, and how he says that she got pregnant, he's sure, just so she could get the space...it's such a simple subject that no one else would think of writing about...no other poets that I've read have succeded in being able to pour out their thoughts in a way that I would actually be interested to read them. I applaud you, Micheal Ondaatje...all my love.