Coming Through Slaughter

I finally finished Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje, one of the books assigned for English 317. At its heart, it's about the collision of mental illness and creativity and uses fictional elements of jazz musician Buddy Bolden's life to illustrate this. The work can be thought of a series of photographs (photography is a minor theme) as Ondaatje uses the cut up method and various narrators to tell the story of Bolden's life, acquaintances and institutionalization. The "Slaughter" in the title actually refers to a town of the same name, the last town Buddy Bolden passes through before reaching the state mental hospital. I didn't care very much for the book. It was not the stream of consciousness style, or the cut ups or the lack of traditional narrative. It was just mostly confusing and tedious. It was so confusing that my teacher noted that three essays that used the book got one vital part wrong - it's Bolden who slices the nipple off his wife's lover, not the other way around. The one thing that has always bothered me about Ondaatje's novel writing as opposed to his poetry is that it lacks authenticity. A rich personality like Bolden deserves more than flat characterization. The man just seems like a total bore that buggers off for two years screwing his friend's wife while he stays at their house. Bolden's two year disappearance could have been used to great effect in moving the plot along as his friend Webb tries to find him, but the opportunity is squandered.