Running in the family 61-101

This reading was a lot more clearer than the previous chapters, packed with more detail about Ondaatje as a person. Theses chapters seemed to be a little more exciting and interesting. It seems as though Ondaatje like to start most of his chapters with something that makes you think or something that has deeper meaning then what you read. "On my brother's wail in Toronto are the false maps." (63) Ondaatje goes on to explain what this means but it is still not as clear as it should be, it makes you think more then other authors do.

So far Ondaatje has almost a magical feeling to this book, making events almost seem not real or making you think that they couldn't happen. "We used the thalagoya to scale walls. We tied a rope around its neck and heaved it over a wall. It's claws could cling to any surface, and we pulled ourselves up the rope after it." (74,75) After I read that I can't picture any little kid, not matter how light they were, climbing up a wall using an animal. It just doesn’t seem like that would be possible. Ondaatje also talks about people being reincarnated as animals. "Finally one of the old workers at Rock Hill told my stepmother what had become obvious, that it was my father who had come to protect his family." (99) For most people this seems hard to believe but for others they believe it, either way its something magical that Ondaatje put into his story.

I'm not sure if I like how Ondaatje put so many poems in throughout the book, they have little impact on me and don’t make to much since. I know that they have to deal with the story in some way, but right now it just doesn’t make to much since of why they are there.