Customer Reviews

The Story

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

.....We are told on the first page of "THE STORY".

Children are given forty days of dreams of previous lives and then "the past is erased".

This is a beautifully written and illustrated little book that teases out questions and follows with elegiac whispers of the memories, the histories that were present before the maps were buried.

The poem takes us to a place we have already been trained to enter and conquer, only any projection past that point is unknown..... thus at the end we are left to reflect and wonder.....and hope for our future.

Michael Ondaatje magically takes the reader into his hands and transports him gently through his poem in a dreamlike haze.

This lovely little book would make a wonderful gift and knowing that all royalties go directly to a fundraising project for World Literacy of Canada is an added bonus!

The poem follows a group of 7 who infiltrate a kingdom and kill soldiers (and the king?). Then they must try to get out. I found that part of storyline distasteful even though it is linked to the first part of the poem in which there are some beautiful images. The images that touched me were of infants remembering past lives, being born in a family of memories, and a husband braiding his hair with his wive's hair.

David Bolduc's illustrations are wonderful. I am so glad that I saw them.

The poem is presented in type and in red pen which I found distracting.

The 3 stars are for the enchanting illustrations and the poem's beginning. I realize it is my personal taste that I did not care for the killing aspect--which was not given the framework of purpose, morality.

I knew the poem "The Story" from another collection of poetry. But it is still nice to have the book "The Story"!