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Title details for A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje - Available

A Year of Last Things

Poems

by Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
From one of the most influential writers of his generation, a gorgeously surprising poetry collection about memory, history, and the act of looking back
Following several of his internationally acclaimed novels, A Year of Last Things is Michael Ondaatje’s long-awaited return to poetry. In pieces that are sometimes witty, sometimes moving, and always wise, we journey back through time by way of alchemical leaps, unearthing writings by revered masters, moments of shared tenderness, and the abandoned landscapes we hold on to to rediscover the influence of every border crossed.
Moving from a Sri Lankan boarding school to Molière’s chair during his last stage performance, to Bulgarian churches and their icons, to the California coast and his beloved Canadian rivers, Michael Ondaatje casts a brilliant eye that merges memory with the present, in the way memory as the distant shores of art and lost friends continue to influence everything that surrounds him.
From his poem "His chair, a narrow bed, a motel room, the fox":
     At the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles Sam Cooke was shot dead.
     ‘See that shadow on the wall . . .’ All those motels and hotels
     in literature and song, where X wrote this,
     where Y got drunk, where Z overdosed.
     The one Hank Williams was driven past, dead already in his car.
     The Slavianski Bazaar Hotel in "The Lady with a Dog,"
     where Dmitri imagines their dark but hopeful future.
     The Hôtel de ville de Courtrai, where Verlaine shot Rimbaud.
     The Casa Verdi in Milan, where retired opera singers were welcomed
     along with various heteronyms of Fernando Pessoa in their afterlife.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 19, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593869437
      • File size: 62795 KB
      • Duration: 02:10:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from January 15, 2024
      The dazzling latest by Ondaatje (The Story) brings his formidable literary gifts and imagination to bear on questions of memory and artistic process. Tenderly plumbing friends, ex-lovers, works of art, and “echoing rivers where we lost and found ourselves,” he writes of “all those small recalls of this and that/ before our walk up a staircase into the dark.” Photographs serve as especially potent aides-mémoires, and retrospection is more playful than onerous, even when recollected moments retain their dangerous charge (like “that abandoned time” in boarding school under the reign of an abusive priest, “his large body belted with a Christian cord of rope”). Each experience exists “not as memory, but like a gift/ from forgetfulness.” “Nothing stays still in a story,” Ondaatje reminds the reader, and, indeed, the narrative impulse holds sway in these lyric poems: “your bare feet on a mosaic in Gaza that could perhaps guide you like a terza rima towards a safe place to complete your story.” Poetry offers a place “beyond the familiar properties”: “the breaking line’s breath-like leap/ into the missed life// till there was no longer a story, only stillness/ or falling.” Speaking from and into times of extraordinary loss, the speaker asks: “Now we are less. How do we become more?” This collection radiates the joy of a fully realized, literary life.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      It's always informative, at the least, to hear a poet's own readings of his work--even if those are not always the most evocative or entertaining renditions. Michael Ondaatje's poetry is quite fine; an earlier collection won the Governor General's Literary Award (Canada). But his performance of these works, alas, does not do them justice. The poems return again and again to historical and personal memory, but other themes appear as well. Forms and lengths vary, too. The author's voice, sadly, does not vary much. It is not quite a monotone, but the ranges of volume, tone, and pace are too narrow to serve the text well. The very short times between the poems can also make it hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      May 1, 2024

      Booker Prize-winning poet, novelist, and essayist Ondaatje's latest, much-anticipated poetry collection (following his novel Warlight and his 2006 poetry collection The Story) allows listeners to glimpse the influences, inspirations, and experiences that shaped his life. With gemlike imagery, Ondaatje explores the shifting nature of memory and history with language that is at turns wry, questioning, and poignant. Ondaatje details the pleasures and sorrows of his life, whether they are ephemeral flashes or lasting experiences, drawing from past moments while referencing present happenings and telling stories of his travels and encounters across the globe. Narrating his own work, Ondaatje offers a fluid and gentle reading, tenderly guiding listeners through his journey of romance and self-discovery. The result is an intimate listen that feels like whispers shared in the dark. It is occasionally difficult to discern chapter breaks, but as the verses flow, understanding the movement of the writing becomes effortless. VERDICT A mesmerizing audio, enhanced by the author's heartfelt narration. Recommended for listeners hoping to immerse themselves in a poetic escape that is beautifully written and raw.--Autumn Wyatt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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