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maria_rb 's review for:
The Cat's Table
by Michael Ondaatje
In this book that is rendered so clearly in the voice and experience of an 11-year-old Michael (nicknamed Mynah), one is tempted to believe it is an autobiographical experience of Michael Ondaatje's. The main character is on a boat from Sri Lanka, bound for England to go to school and reunite with his mother. He encounters other children in the same 'boat' (bad pun!) and befriends them. The emotions, mischief, and curiosity of the 11-year-old boys come across as entertaining and insightful. Mynah's observations of adults is spot on and shows how children can grasp the truth of character better than adults can; they don't, however, always have the skill to analyze what that truth means, until later in life. There is a poignancy that shines through when narrated from the voice of an innocent a child.
A mysterious event surrounding the prisoner that is also on board the ship culminates in the climax of the tale, but this is not the story that leaves me loving this book. What I love so much is the way in which the experience of children sent abroad to school and to another life is captured so well. The ties that bind these children who need stability when uprooted from home are the driving force of the narrative. It is also the part of the book that I most relate to.
A mysterious event surrounding the prisoner that is also on board the ship culminates in the climax of the tale, but this is not the story that leaves me loving this book. What I love so much is the way in which the experience of children sent abroad to school and to another life is captured so well. The ties that bind these children who need stability when uprooted from home are the driving force of the narrative. It is also the part of the book that I most relate to.