{"product_id":"9781787335042-year-of-last-things","title":"A Year of Last Things","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eA Year of Last Things\u003c\/i\u003e, acclaimed novelist Michael Ondaatje returns to poetry, looking back on a life of displacement and discovery\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'My life always stops for a new book by him' \u003c\/b\u003eJHUMPA LAHIRI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A generous, moving book'\u003c\/b\u003e GUARDIAN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in Sri Lanka during the Second World War, Ondaatje was sent as a child to school in London, and later moved to Canada. While he has lived there since, these poems reflect the life of a writer, traveller and watcher of the world – describing himself as a 'mongrel', someone born out of diverse cultures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere, rediscovering the influence of every border crossed, he moves back and forth in time, from a childhood in Sri Lanka to Molière’s chair during his last stage performance, from icons in Bulgarian churches to the Californian coast and loved Canadian rivers, merging memory with the present, looking back on a life of displacement and discovery, love and loss. As he writes in the opening poem:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReading the lines he loves\u003cbr\u003ehe slips them into a pocket,\u003cbr\u003ewishes to die with his clothes\u003cbr\u003efull of \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003etorn-free stanzas\u003cbr\u003eand the telephone numbers\u003cbr\u003eof his children in far cities\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoetry – where language is made to work hardest and burns with a gem-like flame - is what Ondaatje has returned to in this intimate history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56642966290806,"sku":"9781787335042","price":10.78,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_38208761_2baea78c-25df-48bd-8582-f2421c1ec156.jpg?v=1763814202","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781787335042-year-of-last-things","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}