Set in the 1950s, Booker Prize winning author of The English Patient, has written a compelling novel, titled The Cat’s Table.
Based on the experiences of an 11-year-old boy who embarks on a three week voyage on the cruiser “Oronsay” from Colombo to England, Ondaatje’s new novel grabbed me just as his Anil’s Ghost (2000), and Divisadero (2007) did.
As an Ondaatje follower, I was quickly reminded again within the first chapter of The Cat’s Table, of this author’s superb ability to grab me with his quiet, reflective, pensive style.
Soon after the novel opens, the reader learns that the young boy, who tells this story from his point of view, is being sent from Colombo to England to reunite with his mother, whom he has not seen in four years. He is told, in a matter of fact way, that he will cross the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and then go through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean before he arrives at his small port in England. Although he does have a “semi” guardian on board the ship, he is not really controlled by her and is given a top bunk in a suite where a middle age bunk mate holds nightly bridge parties. The protagonist does enjoy the periodic company of Emily, a seventeen year old beauty, whom he knew in Colombo.
By the end of the first day, Michael learns that he has been assigned to Table 76, the “Cat’s Table” in the dining room, the table farthest away from the Captain’s Table, which is reserved for the” insignificants” aboard. It is here that Michael meets two slightly older boys who become his friends, confidants, and pre-adolescent “partners in crime“. What these boys witness during the three week voyage–adult romances, the exotic living garden hidden in the ship’s dark hold, a trapeze artist performance, a shackled prisoner’s nightly parading, and even a possible murder–make the three week trip one which the narrator will reflect upon for his lifetime. What Ondaatje holds up in this book are two non-touchable human abilities, the ability of perception versus the ability of memory. Where they reside, overlap, or overrule each other in the impressionable mind of an 11 year old boy, as he matures into his late twenties, make this novel the masterpiece that it is, in my opinion.
The novel flashes forward as well as backward, another successful characteristic of this respected Canadian writer, who was born in Sri Lanka. The lives of the three boys, who were best friends for the voyage, are loosely followed by the narrator, but it is from the point of view of the narrator that the reader begins to piece together the truth, but, of course, his fallible version of the truth. One of my favorite parts of the novel occurs close to the end when the protagonist gets a call from Emily, whom he has not seen for 15 years. As they visit at her Canadian cottage, they rehash some of the major events of the voyage, especially the suspected murder as well as the night the prisoner escaped overboard holding his mute daughter’s hand. Once again, the question or dilemma of memory versus perception comes into play, and this time, diverse emotions do as well.
The Cat’s Table is a cleverly written novel all about how a certain time period in a child’s life can affect him always. Also, the desire to reconnect with those who mutually shared this time takes precedence as well. As I turned the last page of this novel late last night, I smiled with satisfaction knowing that this renowned author did “it” again and that I can look forward to another novel, hopefully not too far in the future.
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It’s now out in paperback, too. -August 2012
-Nan
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