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The English Patient
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Plot Summary of The English Patient
"No one knows who the English patient is, not even his Canadian nurse, Hana. He ends up in a hospital/villa in Tuscany,Italy during World War II claiming that he has no recollection of his identity. The English patient has been burned beyond recognition and he is haunted by his own memories of the past. The British officers who control the territory need to know his identity as they believe that he might be a Nazi.

Hana quickly bonds with the burned man as she tries to regain control of her troubled life as well. He is her only patient, and through caring for him, her sense of loss of her father, her unborn child, and all of her lost patients starts to heal. As she reads to him his treasured Herodotus' Histories, he starts to reveal to her his past life and his great love. He tells her about his desert exporations and about his lover Katherine, and her husband Geoffrey Clifton, who tried to kill all three of them. "

N. Alford, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The English Patient
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - conduct in war
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
War/Revolt/Disaster on civilians Yes
Conflict: - War, WW II
Lover is - physically ill/deformed

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - explorer
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - Eastern European
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - missing body parts/abilities

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 (a significant amount)
Europe Yes
European country: - Italy
Africa Yes
Kind of Africa: - Arabic Africa

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - very explicit references to deaths and torture
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - actual description of hetero sex
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Michael Ondaatje Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Melissa Rachiele  

SCHOLARS:
N. Alford  


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