Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
I haven't read any of his other work, but I couldn't sink my teeth into this one--or, rather, Ondaatje's prose couldn't sink its teeth into me. His style is wonderful, and probably even stronger in other novels, but there was absolutely nothing here that intrigued me, nothing beckoning me to turn the pages, so I gave up after about 50 or so. As an autobiographical piece, it sounds like a fascinating experience, and as a novel it falls flat. When it tries to be both novel and memoir at the same time, it achieves nothing.
The most linear of Ondaatje's novel, and still filled with wonderful language.
This book is a magnificently poetic representation of ethereal events in a boy's life and how they impacted him at the time and into his adulthood.
How does MO do it? I actually felt the movement of the ship in his words. I felt the dark corners of the different areas of the ship; I felt personal connections with each character that the boy Michael befriended or feared or wondered at. I felt like a castaway on board, watching and simultaneously traveling along with these characters.
Instructions: Fill a bath with warm running words. Step in with your mind. Soak in the experience.
How does MO do it? I actually felt the movement of the ship in his words. I felt the dark corners of the different areas of the ship; I felt personal connections with each character that the boy Michael befriended or feared or wondered at. I felt like a castaway on board, watching and simultaneously traveling along with these characters.
Instructions: Fill a bath with warm running words. Step in with your mind. Soak in the experience.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This fascinating story is the fictionalized tale of Ondaatje's own voyage from Sri Lanka as a boy to meet his mother and attend school in England. The novel is beautifully written in a series of vignettes, telling of events that affected several of the characters subsequent lives.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/the-cats-table/
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/the-cats-table/
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is the story of a three week journey in 1954 from Ceylon to England by sea. Michael is 11, and is leaving the only country he has ever known. Travelling alone, he quickly befriends two other boys of his age and the three of them spend the weeks exploring the ship, spying on their fellow passengers and generally getting up to mischief. Despite the fact that there are many similarities between the author's own story and the fictional Michael, this is apparently fictional. The book has a dreamy, timeless quality - the journey seems much longer than three weeks, which is probably how it would have felt to an 11 year old. Events that happened for a few days would stretch in the memory. The narrator himself comments that his memory is unreliable, which heightens the sense of unreality that permeates the pages.
I'm finding it very hard to know how to rate this book. It's short and easy enough to read, but it took me almost a month to get through. The writing is beautiful, even poetic, but there is very little in the way of a plot. Instead we get little vignettes about this passenger or that passenger, which are pleasant but never gave me the urge to pick the book up again and to read more. Towards the end some of the disparate strands do come together, but I think what will stay with me is not the characters, nor the storyline, but the impressions of a particular place in time. I'm glad I read it, but it's not a book I would hand to a friend and say "you must read this".
I'm finding it very hard to know how to rate this book. It's short and easy enough to read, but it took me almost a month to get through. The writing is beautiful, even poetic, but there is very little in the way of a plot. Instead we get little vignettes about this passenger or that passenger, which are pleasant but never gave me the urge to pick the book up again and to read more. Towards the end some of the disparate strands do come together, but I think what will stay with me is not the characters, nor the storyline, but the impressions of a particular place in time. I'm glad I read it, but it's not a book I would hand to a friend and say "you must read this".
The Cat's Table is the lowest table on the social order of an ocean liner - basically the kiddie's table of the most un-important. At this table, the main character of the story, Michael (or Mynah) finds companions on a 21 day long cruise from Ceylon to England. He is alone (except for a neglecting relative of sorts) and he and his companions engage in general children's shenanigans.
The book almost reads as a series of short stories or character sketches through the book, but a mystery shows up part-way through the story, something dangerous and interesting for the boys to try to piece together.
Most of the story is told through Michael's 11 year old eyes, but there are flashes to the future where grown-Michael thinks back upon his journey and understands the influence this journey has had upon his life (and the lives of others).
It's an easy read, with phenomenal prose. Without using any shock-factors or plot devices, Ondaatje weaves an incredibly engaging and compelling story with beautifully fleshed out characters and amazing verisimilitude.
The book almost reads as a series of short stories or character sketches through the book, but a mystery shows up part-way through the story, something dangerous and interesting for the boys to try to piece together.
Most of the story is told through Michael's 11 year old eyes, but there are flashes to the future where grown-Michael thinks back upon his journey and understands the influence this journey has had upon his life (and the lives of others).
It's an easy read, with phenomenal prose. Without using any shock-factors or plot devices, Ondaatje weaves an incredibly engaging and compelling story with beautifully fleshed out characters and amazing verisimilitude.
Interesting read but ultimately I wanted more from the narrator.