7.2 /10 1 Votes7.2
Pages 304 Originally published 25 August 2011 Page count 304 | 3.6/5 Language English ISBN 978-0-224-09361-3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publication date 25 August 2011 (UK)30 August 2011 (Canada)4 October 2011 (USA) Characters Bound Prisoner, Michael, Girl Rollerskater, Emily, Mr. Daniels, Cassius, Ramadhin, Flavia Prins Similar Bildungsromans, Other books |
Ondaatje crafts semi autobiographical tale of ocean voyage in the cat s table
The Cat's Table is a novel by Canadian author Michael Ondaatje first published in 2011. It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Contents
- Ondaatje crafts semi autobiographical tale of ocean voyage in the cat s table
- Michael ondaatje reads from the cat s table
- Synopsis
- Reception
- References
Ondaatje himself went on such a voyage in his childhood, from Sri Lanka to England.
Michael ondaatje reads from the cat s table
Synopsis
The central character and narrator named Michael, an unaccompanied 11-year-old boy, boards an ocean liner, the Oronsay, in Colombo en route to England via the Suez canal and the Mediterranean. For meals on board Michael is sat at the "cat's table" (the one furthest from the Captain's table) with other boys Ramadhin and Cassius and other misfit characters. The book follows the adventures of Michael and these boys while they are aboard the Oronsay, and Michael's later perspective as an older man looking back on this boyhood voyage.
Reception
Liesl Schillinger for The New York Times, while noting Ondaatje's appended disclaimer that The Cat's Table is a work of fiction, states, "So convincing is Ondaatje’s evocation of his narrator’s experience that the reader could easily mistake it for the author’s own". Philip Hensher for The Telegraph is largely positive, writing, "Michael Ondaatje’s impressive new novel, containing dreams and fantasy between a ship’s flanks. It is, in the most etymological way, a wonderful novel: one full of wonders." Adam Mars-Jones in his review in the The Observer is less impressed, writing, "Perhaps The Cat's Table aspires to a … doubleness of texture and meaning, the yarn of adventure story backed with the deeper colours of adult experience, but on the level of craftsmanship it doesn't measure up." Jess Row, writing for New York Magazine, describes The Cat's Table as being unlike Ondaatje's earlier works, as it allows the reader to experience what's going on in the characters' heads, not strictly focusing on the setting of the world.