“Divisadero from the Spanish word meaning Division, or it might derive from the word Divisar meaning to gaze at something from a distance”.
The woman formerly known as Anna is in France researching the life of a local novelist Lucien Segura, staying at his former home. She sits at a blue table whilst she does her research and during her discussions with the gypsy Rafael who lives in a field beyond the house we come to understand why that blue table was the most important possession in Lucien’s life, and as his story unfolds the parallels within Anna’s life become apparent.
Lucien abandoned his wife and family just as Anna had done. She had left behind her father, her adopted sister Claire, and Coop the coloured boy taken in by her father when he was a small boy.
This is a story of possession and loss and we meander through the characters almost like a Kundera novel. Claire and Coop are revealed to us at the beginning and though their story is intriguing and eventually intertwines into adulthood, it is not complete and I found this unsatisfactory. I didn’t really grasp what Ondaatje was trying to convey, there seemed no point to the story, and I doubt that I will remember much of it in time to come, but the way it was written was so captivating I could not put it down even though I wasn’t really enjoying it!
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