BookBrowse Reviews Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

BookBrowse:

Warlight is a dazzling historical fiction novel about a young boy's coming of age set in post-World War II England.

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Michael Ondaatje's Warlight opens with this intriguing sentence: "In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals." The narrator, the now 28-year-old Nathaniel, was 14 at the time; his sister Rachel two years older. So begins this remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of post-WWII England.

The first half of the novel reads like a fictional memoir in which Nathaniel recalls the strange period in his childhood during which his parents were "gone." The narrative abounds with enigmatic characters who drift into and out of the children's lives, as well as the unusual experiences they have while in the company of this odd cast. One keeps waiting for revelations about why the parents left and where they went, but answers are few and far between. Instead readers are treated to an incredibly well-written, coming-of-age story where, as a self-absorbed teenager, Nathaniel speaks only of love and adventure. When he thinks to ask about his mother's whereabouts, he's fed the answer: "Your mother is away, she is doing something important."

Toward the end of this first section, Rachel is told, "Your own story is just one, and perhaps not the important one. The self is not the principal thing." It seems as if this statement is truly the key to the novel as the story shifts focus away from Nathaniel's history to that of his mother, Rose.

Fast-forward fourteen years, Nathaniel is now employed by a secret arm of the British government. His job is to sift through documents compiled just after WWII to "unearth whatever evidence might still remain of actions that history might consider untoward – conflicting evidence, glossed-over atrocities that could still be found in stray reports and unofficial papers…There was a hasty determined destruction of evidence by all sides. Anything questionable was burned or shredded under myriad hands. So revisionist histories could begin." It is through this job that Nathaniel gradually pieces together what exactly his mother was doing while he and his sister remained in the care of others.

Ondaatje is a deft writer and storyteller and this is perhaps his best work to date. Not one word seems out of place in this extraordinary novel. Although it isn't a page turner by any means, the story held me rapt with its luminous descriptions and the revelations that come bit-by-bit until the mystery of Rose's post-war life is made clear. The narration is spot-on as Nathaniel recalls his teen years wistfully and with a profound sense of nostalgia and loss and later, as he mourns the mother he never really knew.

Warlight will likely not appeal to all readers, particularly those who have limited patience for a story that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The book's unusual start primes readers for a mystery, not a memoir, and some may feel frustrated that the plot dithers around the life of a teenage boy for so much of the narrative without answering any questions: Why did their parents leave? What's happened to them? Who are these people that are minding their children? Most of these mysteries are eventually teased out, but not until quite late, and I suspect many may abandon the novel well before that point. The story may require some effort now and then, but most readers who stick with it will find the novel well worth their time.

Warlight is now on my list of best books and I heartily recommend it to those who enjoy exceptionally well-written fiction. It's one of the most satisfying novels I've read in a long time.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in June 2018, and has been updated for the May 2019 edition. Click here to go to this issue.