ANIL'S GHOST by Michael Ondaatje

The mood that pervades the atmosphere of this novel is eerie, dark, and damp.  How Ondaatje manages to envelop us in the ambience of Sri Lanka I’m not really sure, but it’s his homeland, as well as Anil Tissera’s, the main character in this novel.   She is a forensic anthropologist who has been studying and working in Europe and the U.S. and returns home as part of a U.N. mission to investigate murders probably sanctioned by the Sri Lankan government.  Sarath Diyasena has been assigned to work with her, but Anil can never be sure if his loyalty is to the government or to the truth.  A smattering of other characters randomly appear, including Sarath’s brother, who is a physician that routinely patches together victims of violence.  Sarath has unearthed four skeletons, three of which are very old, and one, which they name Sailor, is very recently buried and has obviously been moved from another location.  The quest to discover Sailor’s history and identity leads Anil and Sarath to Sarath’s old mentor, now blind, and to an alcoholic painter and sculptor who may be able reconstruct Sailor’s head from his skull.  These secondary characters receive primary treatment, which is both informative and disconcerting at the same time.  My biggest beef with this novel is that it leaves a whole host of unanswered questions.  Also, since I am certainly not familiar with Sri Lankan history, I never really got a handle on the motive for the massacres that apparently had become commonplace during the time period in which this novel is set.  I felt as though I had been airdropped into a hostile setting without knowing why it’s hostile.