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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20111007-book-review-the-cats-table-by-michael-ondaatje.ece
The Cat's Table
Michael Ondaatje
(Knopf, $26)
“You must never feel unimportant in the scheme of things,” a passenger on the Oronsay, a ship sailing from Sri Lanka to England in 1954, tells Michael, the 11-year-old narrator of Michael Ondaatje's novel The Cat's Table. Although Michael is seated for meals at the “cat's table… the least privileged place” on the Oronsay, he proves to be integral to the scheme of things on this voyage.
On the three-week journey, Michael and the young friends he meets engage in endless mischief, some of which alters the course of other characters' lives.
The narrator shares a given name with the author, and some of their biographical details match, but Ondaatje writes in an author's note that the book is fictional, “from the captain and crew and all its passengers down to the narrator.” Ondaatje, like the narrator, was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) and immigrated to England before becoming an acclaimed Canadian writer. The narrator, nicknamed Mynah by his friends, plans to join his mother in England.
Ondaatje vividly captures the microcosm of this grand ship. The boys wake early to sneak into First Class, “an unguarded palace at six in the morning,” where they “plunder” the breakfast on the sun deck and climb into a raised lifeboat to feast. Hidden in the lifeboats, the boys witness plenty of drama between the adults throughout the voyage. The boys stay up late to watch a dangerous prisoner take his exercise at midnight.
Many other intriguing people are aboard, including an acrobatic troop, a jazz musician, a woman who trains carrier pigeons and an Australian who roller skates herself to the point of exhaustion on the upper deck at dawn. There is so much to observe that the boys start taking afternoon naps, like preschoolers, so they can stay awake during the interesting hours of day and night. “Sleep is a prison for a boy who has friends to meet,” Ondaatje writes.
At first the novel has an episodic quality, until the underlying machinations of the adults become clearer. Mynah learns about life, love, duplicity, art and passion from observing and talking with the adults. He reflects, “That was a small lesson I learned on the journey. What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.”
The most sympathetic and involving characters are the boys themselves, and the most moving section of the book is when the narrative jumps to show what happens to them adults. Observant, non-judgmental Mynah grows up to be a successful novelist; wild and reckless Cassius becomes a famous artist; and quiet, reserved Ramadhin, who was born with a weak heart, must take “careful care” of it. All of the story is told in thoughtful, often arresting prose, full of philosophical and psychological insights, but after learning the boys' fates, the climax of the ship journey — a drama that plays out among peripheral characters — isn't nearly as involving.
Still, The Cat's Table is an elegant, insightful coming-of-age tale, steeped in Ondaatje's rich memories of a long-gone time and way of travel.
Jenny Shank's first novel, The Ringer, was a finalist for the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association's Reading the West Award.
The Cat's Table
Michael Ondaatje
(Knopf, $26)
“You must never feel unimportant in the scheme of things,” a passenger on the Oronsay, a ship sailing from Sri Lanka to England in 1954, tells Michael, the 11-year-old narrator of Michael Ondaatje's novel The Cat's Table. Although Michael is seated for meals at the “cat's table… the least privileged place” on the Oronsay, he proves to be integral to the scheme of things on this voyage.
On the three-week journey, Michael and the young friends he meets engage in endless mischief, some of which alters the course of other characters' lives.
The narrator shares a given name with the author, and some of their biographical details match, but Ondaatje writes in an author's note that the book is fictional, “from the captain and crew and all its passengers down to the narrator.” Ondaatje, like the narrator, was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) and immigrated to England before becoming an acclaimed Canadian writer. The narrator, nicknamed Mynah by his friends, plans to join his mother in England.
Ondaatje vividly captures the microcosm of this grand ship. The boys wake early to sneak into First Class, “an unguarded palace at six in the morning,” where they “plunder” the breakfast on the sun deck and climb into a raised lifeboat to feast. Hidden in the lifeboats, the boys witness plenty of drama between the adults throughout the voyage. The boys stay up late to watch a dangerous prisoner take his exercise at midnight.
Many other intriguing people are aboard, including an acrobatic troop, a jazz musician, a woman who trains carrier pigeons and an Australian who roller skates herself to the point of exhaustion on the upper deck at dawn. There is so much to observe that the boys start taking afternoon naps, like preschoolers, so they can stay awake during the interesting hours of day and night. “Sleep is a prison for a boy who has friends to meet,” Ondaatje writes.
At first the novel has an episodic quality, until the underlying machinations of the adults become clearer. Mynah learns about life, love, duplicity, art and passion from observing and talking with the adults. He reflects, “That was a small lesson I learned on the journey. What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.”
The most sympathetic and involving characters are the boys themselves, and the most moving section of the book is when the narrative jumps to show what happens to them adults. Observant, non-judgmental Mynah grows up to be a successful novelist; wild and reckless Cassius becomes a famous artist; and quiet, reserved Ramadhin, who was born with a weak heart, must take “careful care” of it. All of the story is told in thoughtful, often arresting prose, full of philosophical and psychological insights, but after learning the boys' fates, the climax of the ship journey — a drama that plays out among peripheral characters — isn't nearly as involving.
Still, The Cat's Table is an elegant, insightful coming-of-age tale, steeped in Ondaatje's rich memories of a long-gone time and way of travel.
Jenny Shank's first novel, The Ringer, was a finalist for the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association's Reading the West Award.
I picked it up for a book club I ended up not joining. It’s a poetic reflection on a coming of age trip that ends up being neither super poetic nor completely about coming of age, more about reflecting on that transition as an adult.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-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
I feel there was a missed opportunity with this novel. There could have been more tension, more suspense. I felt the narration too far removed from the events; indeed it was meant to be the memories of an adult looking back to childhood but this seemed to remove all danger from the moments of action. Overall, not bad but not fantastic either.
It took me over 8 hours and I still have only a vague impression. I blame Ondaatje's soothing voice.
Meh. See my blog galavantbooks.tumblr.com tomorrow for a full review.
Meh. It was well-written, but ultimately, I was bored.
The Cat's Table, by Michael Ondaatje, is a captivating coming of age story about three boys who make the long journey from Columbo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to England on The Oronsay, back in 1954. The protagonist is eleven year old Michael, who befriends two other boys his age, Ramadhin and Cassius. They are each traveling without parents, and so at mealtimes, they are seated with a random group of adults who seem like a ragtag group of less fortunate people. It is one of these, an eccentric woman traveling with pigeons, who coins the name of their table and declares it the least privileged spot, being as far away from the captain's table as possible.
During these twenty-one days, these boys get into various kinds of trouble, witness unusual and frightening events, and begin to look outward in more observant, mature ways than they ever have before. Specifically, these boys are awakened to how much lies beneath the surface of seemingly boring, ordinary adults. The denizens of the cat's table, for instance, are most intriguing. These characters are well presented, with a beautifully crafted amount of development twined with enough mystery to challenge the reader's imagination, leaving much to ponder.
As Michael, Ramadhin, and Cassius take the long cruise through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean, new worlds open up for them, in both positive and negative ways; towards the end of the trip, there is a very disturbing event which remains mysterious.
This story is not told linearly. Instead, Michael moves back and forth between his momentous journey and his present life. Very little is said about his early life in Sri Lanka, or about his very first days in England with a mother he hadn't seen for about three years. I got the feeling that his story became somewhat anti-climatic after this magical time he spent on The Oronsay, that he never experienced anything so intense ever again, and that the rest of his life was all about interpreting what had happened during those days at sea.
As an adult, Michael does receive more enlightenment about what he'd witnessed during his eleventh year, when his mind was growing to include the a larger world, while still clinging to a vestige of magical thought. Of course, these things are not completely illuminated, but then, they never are. Ondaatje chose the right place to let Michael go on without the reader.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Though Michael Ondaatje states that this work is a novel, not based on fact, there are aspects that must be autobiographical, namely the fact that Ondaatje moved from Columbo to England in 1954, when he would have been eleven years old. And he did make such a voyage alone, but states that he barely remembers it, and that the adventures in this story are completely fabricated. Also, like his novel's character, he became a writer.
Anyway, both thumbs up! I enjoyed this one immensely.
During these twenty-one days, these boys get into various kinds of trouble, witness unusual and frightening events, and begin to look outward in more observant, mature ways than they ever have before. Specifically, these boys are awakened to how much lies beneath the surface of seemingly boring, ordinary adults. The denizens of the cat's table, for instance, are most intriguing. These characters are well presented, with a beautifully crafted amount of development twined with enough mystery to challenge the reader's imagination, leaving much to ponder.
As Michael, Ramadhin, and Cassius take the long cruise through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, and the Mediterranean, new worlds open up for them, in both positive and negative ways; towards the end of the trip, there is a very disturbing event which remains mysterious.
This story is not told linearly. Instead, Michael moves back and forth between his momentous journey and his present life. Very little is said about his early life in Sri Lanka, or about his very first days in England with a mother he hadn't seen for about three years. I got the feeling that his story became somewhat anti-climatic after this magical time he spent on The Oronsay, that he never experienced anything so intense ever again, and that the rest of his life was all about interpreting what had happened during those days at sea.
As an adult, Michael does receive more enlightenment about what he'd witnessed during his eleventh year, when his mind was growing to include the a larger world, while still clinging to a vestige of magical thought. Of course, these things are not completely illuminated, but then, they never are. Ondaatje chose the right place to let Michael go on without the reader.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Though Michael Ondaatje states that this work is a novel, not based on fact, there are aspects that must be autobiographical, namely the fact that Ondaatje moved from Columbo to England in 1954, when he would have been eleven years old. And he did make such a voyage alone, but states that he barely remembers it, and that the adventures in this story are completely fabricated. Also, like his novel's character, he became a writer.
Anyway, both thumbs up! I enjoyed this one immensely.