The Cat's Table
1 journaler for this copy...
Picked this book up at a local Library book sale. Michael Ondaatje in a Canadian Author, born in Sri Lanka and now living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
From the inside front cover flap:"In the early 1950's in Ceylon an eleven-year-old boy is put alone aboard a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the insignificant 'cat's table' - - as far from the Captain's table as can be - - with two other lone boys and a small group of strange fellow passengers: one appears to be a shadowy figure from the British Secret Service; another a mysterious thief; another seems all too familiar with the dangerous ways of women and crime. On the long sea voyage across the Indian Ocean and through the Suez Canal, the three boys rush from one wild adventure and startling discovery to another, experiencing the first stirrings of desire, spying at night on a notorious shackled prisoner, moving easily between the decks and holds of the ship. As the secretive adult world is slowly revealed to them, they realize that a drama is unfolding on the ship, and the prisoner's crime and fate will be a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them and link them forever."
From the inside front cover flap:"In the early 1950's in Ceylon an eleven-year-old boy is put alone aboard a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the insignificant 'cat's table' - - as far from the Captain's table as can be - - with two other lone boys and a small group of strange fellow passengers: one appears to be a shadowy figure from the British Secret Service; another a mysterious thief; another seems all too familiar with the dangerous ways of women and crime. On the long sea voyage across the Indian Ocean and through the Suez Canal, the three boys rush from one wild adventure and startling discovery to another, experiencing the first stirrings of desire, spying at night on a notorious shackled prisoner, moving easily between the decks and holds of the ship. As the secretive adult world is slowly revealed to them, they realize that a drama is unfolding on the ship, and the prisoner's crime and fate will be a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them and link them forever."
Starting to read this book today.
Finished reading this book today. It is beautifully written, the story told through the eyes of a young 11 year old boy travelling alone by ship in the early 1950's, from Ceylon to England where he is to meet the mother he hasn't seen in five years. His adventures on the ship with two other young boys, seen through the eyes of youth are then later reflected on as an adult in both England and Canada many years later. This is a book filled with rich images and characters that are unique, quirky and yet so believable in many ways.
