Katzentisch

A wonderful story, expertly told.

I have now read this book three times and it continues to draw me into its world.

This book unfolded like an opera--lush, beautiful, and surprisingly dramatic. Such imagery and wonderful characters made the voyage memorable. Great book club read!

This small masterpiece proves Ondaatje can do anything. Read carefully, it is a master class in voice, time, and detail; managing to be both contained and expansive, particular and universal. Beside all the beauty and craft, it is several intersecting, self-sufficient plots that would work from any voice. Worth it for the movie scene alone.

A lovingly-described portrait of a 14-year old boy traveling by ship from Ceylon to England in 1954. As a nobody, he finds himself seated for meals at the "cat's table", a euphemism for the table for the least desirable passengers and located the farthest from the captain's table. Needless to say, the characters he meets are a delightful collection and uninhibited by the most restrictive social customs as they have no farther to fall in social standing, at least on this 3-week voyage. The boy makes friends with two others of similar age consigned to his table, and they spend their time spying on adults, discovering the hidden areas of the trip, and getting into considerable trouble at all hours. They stay up late to watch a murder suspect being given his midnight walk on deck, learn the whereabouts of an enormous painting, deep in the ship's bowels, of nude women riding the machines of war (a leftover from WWII), and are introduced by an adult at their table to a huge garden he is transporting and keeping alive below decks with artificial light and sprayed water. As the book progresses, the story slowly evolves from being the tale of the boy, interspersed with a few inklings of his future life, to the tale of the adult, looking back and examining his memories.

In 1954, our narrator Michael, is sent alone by ship from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to London where his mother has lived for the last three or four years of his young life. Although he is only 11, he is virtually unsupervised on this voyage, and determined to make the most of it. He is aided and abetted by two contemporary companions, Ramadhin and Cassius, the latter of whom he knew slightly at school; the three of them vow not to let a day of the three week passage go by without doing something forbidden. In the dining room, the boys are seated at "the Cat's Table", with several "insignificant" adults who will never be invited to dine with the Captain, unlike the family friend traveling in first class who has promised to "keep an eye on Michael". Despite that assurance, the boys are often left to their own devices, although not completely without adult companionship. Their exploits range from innocuous and mischievous to stupid and life-threatening. Most of the adults they associate with are up to something as well, or at least so it seems to the imaginative boys, who see and hear much that they do not fully understand. To the reader, however, it is clear that not all of the grown-up undertakings are good and legal. As we travel through those 21 days with Michael, we also get glimpses into the future, as he looks back on the adventure years later, interpreting parts of it in light of new information and wider experience. The pacing is gentle (other reviewers call it "slow" or even "plodding"), the writing is fine; there is very little plot, but many little stories. I found it a moving read.

Three 11-year-old boys meet up on a ship from Sri Lanka to England; each will be met by relatives on arrival, but on ship they are pretty much on their own with only the most cursory guardians looking after them. Michael (the narrator), Cassius, and Rhamadhin spend their days exploring the ship, with particular attention to areas they are not allowed to be in. At dinner, they are seated at “the cat’s table,” far away from the prestigious Captain’s Table. Their dining companions are single adult travelers, each with their own story (which the boys only partially understand).Michael relates their three weeks on board, and occasionally the story shifts into the future where we see the characters as adults. This, in turn, informs our interpretation of the sea voyage. There are some touching moments, and some difficult ones too. And of course children are not always the most reliable narrators. But when Michael finally disembarks in England, you know some of what lies ahead for him, both good and bad.I don’t know how I overlooked this book when it was published, but I loved it, devouring it in just a few days. Highly recommended.

There is a very good reason why some authors are so highly regarded. Brilliant novels such as The English Patient and The Cat’s Table are proof of the talent that lies within Ondaatje.Our group was quick to recognise this and rated this month’s book very high, and then crowning that score with a great discussion!Comments verged towards ‘brilliant’, ‘magical’ and ‘seamless’. Everyone fell in love with Michael, Cassius and Ramadhin, these three rascally boys who roamed about the ship filling their days with adventure and mishap. Through them we discover other passengers … their comings and goings, their lives and their secrets.We discussed the possible mix of fact and fiction, and the adventure that is a sea voyage, something that a few of our members experienced as children coming to Australia. Childhood memories can be extremely strong and poignant (as Ondaatje shows) and certainly added another dimension to our discussion.Ondaatje’s unique style was familiar (we read The English Patient way back when) and combined with great characters, wonderful language and a well-blended past-to-present, it was hard to find fault. What little criticism there was for this book was agreed upon … Michael seemed to lose his way as an adult and some of us found this unravelling disturbing. Without exception, we all wanted to be back on the Oronsay with these likable little chaps. Surely evidence of an exceptionally enjoyable read!

"I don’t think you can love me into safety." There are plenty of evocative lines and insights to be found in this latest work from the author of THE ENGLISH PATIENT, but this one--spoken platonically from one cousin to another--might be my favorite, as it goes far to sum up the character and motivations of Michael, who serves as the story's protagonist and narrator. As an 11-year-old boy at the outset of the novel, Michael is being sent alone on a 21-day trip from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to London, where he will be met by his mother. The year is 1954. During the voyage, Michael befriends two other boys his age and we experience the voyage through their eyes. The adventures, the intrigue, the relationships. The eponymous Cat's Table is essentially the lowest (socially) table of the ship's dining room--the antithesis of the Captain's Table, in other words--and the novel revolves around the group of people assigned to that table for the duration of the trip. The tales of the voyage are told in retrospect by an adult Michael and in a nonlinear fashion, which means that, from the perspective of the young boy, we get both flashbacks and flashforwards as we learn bits and pieces of the backgrounds and futures of some of the principal players accompanying Michael on the trip. And without exception, the characters are well-developed, rich, multidimensional,and interesting. At one point, Michael tells us, the readers: "It would always be strangers like them, at the various Cat's Tables of my life, who would alter me." Fans of character and character development will love this story, and there is enough action, intrigue and mystery to satisfy the rest of the reading audience, as well. All in all, a great read.

The narrative, at first, is plodding and slow as if to mimic the intensive labour one requires in building a foundation. This foundation begins with the voice of a young boy, Michael, who is both inquisitive and yet, disciplined and controlled. And though he is described as a child who is curious, as most young boys are, he is an omnipotent character, one who is not authoritative in tone, but distant.

His maturity is revealed in his perception of those around him, the people who unravel in his mind, more as characters in the play of his short, but life-altering journey on the Oronsay. And characters who by his own confession alter him by his memories of them, seem to both propel him and sustain him into his later life.

Michael Ondaatje’s craft specializes in making his characters subtle enough for believability and interesting enough to be entertaining. Ondaatje, however, never shares a full disclosure of his intended interpretation of them to his readers. We just haven’t the time to fully delve into who we think the characters are because Ondaatje intentionally does not allow us to.

As an author, he gives only what he feels is necessary and quite magically and artistically unveils truths to us we never realized were there to discover in the first place.

The book is written in the style of a memoir and goes as far as to share its main character’s name, Michael, with the author. This can be deceiving since Ondaatje attests to the book’s fiction.

It doesn’t begin as a beautifully read story, but through Ondaatje’s lyrical prose, it slowly builds into a more full-bodied story with depth and meaning. What that is exactly, I cannot say—or am afraid to, since in the text, the reader seems to be somewhat forewarned by Ondaatje, the author, through his narrative in saying:

Recently I sat on a master class given by the filmmaker Luc Dardenne. He spoke of how viewers of his films should not assume they understand everything about the characters. As members of an audience we should never feel ourselves wiser than they; we do not have more knowledge than the characters have about themselves. We should not feel assured or certain about their motives, or look down on them. – p. 208

Ondaatje’s characters in this sense, are what and who they are. Simply put. (Though complicated.)

And even though the tone and voice of the narrative is serious, as written in the style of the memoir and to be taken seriously as such, the characters and their stories feel fantastical, almost circus-like, as found in the depiction and pathetic fallacy of the circus troupe led by the character, Pacipia.

There is friendship in the book and childhood—how both are as fluid as the waters of the journey the Oronsay is on. And the recollection of memories seem to resurface, as objects that are thrown overboard a ship seem to resurface at sea: buoyant and changed.

The end of the books is what we would normally expect to be the beginning of a story, the scene where Michael is finally greeted by his mother on the shore of England.

But the growth and the changes in the characters have seemed to have already taken place on the ship. Perhaps it is Michael’s absorption of these stories that he is left with, to recollect and work out to understand that creates who he is later and for the entirety of his life—or not. Perhaps it is merely a fictional memoir of a boy-turned-man who voyaged on a ship from India to England and was changed by it. His childhood, like Ramadhim and Cassius’ childhood had ended somewhere during their voyage at sea.

It is a lovely story of boyhood friendship, love unaware of itself, the duality each person has the potential to possess, the uncertainty of life, and the inevitable changes it brings.

It is easy to see why The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje was shortlisted for the 2011 Giller Prize.

If you are patient enough to plod through the beginning of the story as one who helps in building a strong foundation, it’s much worth your read. As you turn each page, more is revealed to you—and to the characters it speaks about—which in itself, is a worthy journey for us all. One I highly suggest you take.

For the life of me I can't figure out why I wanted to read this so badly when it first came out.

I found this book to be all over the place. It's an overly descriptive, painfully slow book about ZzzZzz. Talking about it bores me.

Slow, meandering, boring. I stopped after about 60 pages.

This morning, the last morning of 2016, I finished a beautifully told story about an 11 year old boy who takes a three week voyage from Sri Lanka to England to be reunited with his mother. This was, in essence, an unsupervised adventure for Michael who quickly meets two other boys and a cast of characters that are forced to sit at the least favored table and the one farthest from the ship's captain -hence the title. The three boys adjust their sleep patterns because there are too many adventures at night that would be missed. As Michael states, "I could go anywhere, do anything. And Ramadhin, Cassius, and I had already established one rule. Each day we had to do at least one thing that was forbidden. The day had barely begun, and we still had hours ahead of us to perform this task." The author actually took this same voyage at 11, and though he quickly disavows any autobiographical claims, what does stand out is ( as Ron Charles points out ) "a tale about the magic of adolescence and the passing strangers who help tip us into adulthood in ways we don’t become aware of until much later."The novel does also jump forward so that the adult author can reflect back on these experiences and actually piece together one of the more dramatic events that took place on the ocean liner. I loved the characterizations of the guests and Ondaaje's ability to capture the wonder and frankness of adolescence, seasoned later on by intelligence and reflection. Looking forward to reading more from this Booker Prize Winner.Here's a quick sketch of one of the passengers that book lovers will enjoy-"Mr. Fonseka seemed to draw forth an assurance or a calming quality from the books he read. He’d gaze into an unimaginable distance (one could almost see the dates flying off the calendar) and quote lines written in stone or papyrus. I suppose he remembered these things to clarify his own opinion, like a man buttoning up his own sweater to give warmth just to himself. Mr. Fonseka would not be a wealthy man. And it would be a spare life he would be certain to lead as a schoolteacher in some urban location. But he had a serenity that came with the choice of the life he wanted to live. And this serenity and certainty I have seen only among those who have the armour of books close by."That's my goal to be more like Mr. Fonseka.Because I had no brothers or sisters, the closest relatives I had while growing up were adults. There was an assortment of unmarried uncles and slow-moving aunts who were joined at the hip by gossip and status. There was one wealthy relative who took great care to remain in the distance.Mr. Fonseka seemed to draw forth an assurance or a calming quality from the books he read. He’d gaze into an unimaginable distance (one could almost see the dates flying off the calendar) and quote lines written in stone or papyrus. I suppose he remembered these things to clarify his own opinion, like a man buttoning up his own sweater to give warmth just to himself. Mr. Fonseka would not be a wealthy man. And it would be a spare life he would be certain to lead as a schoolteacher in some urban location. But he had a serenity that came with the choice of the life he wanted to live. And this serenity and certainty I have seen only among those who have the armour of books close by.Massi existed in the public half of the world that Ramadhin rarely entered. There was never hesitation in her. She and I would come to share a deep slice of each other’s lives. And whatever became of our relationship, the ups and downs of its seas, we improved as well as damaged each other with the quickness I learned partially from her.From the guardian. Anne prouixThe diverse characters have callings or hobbies that dog them like familiars. The svelte Miss Lasqueti keeps a cage of pigeons and has a vest studded with pockets for the birds; half-deaf Asuntha in her green dress is reclusive and subservient and carries a fatal secret; Sir Hector de Silva lies in his emperor-class stateroom dying from a curse. The teacher Mr Fonseka is reclusive, armoured by his books and burning a bit of hemp rope for nostalgia's sake; Mr Daniels has a huge garden of medicinal and poisonous plants in the bottom of the ship; Max Mazappa, aka Sunny Meadows, is the jazz savant musician "on the skids" who attracts Miss Lasqueti but leaves the ship at Port Said. There is an athletic Australian girl rollerskater who half-attracts, half-frightens the boys. There is the Jankla Troupe (one cannot have a cruise ship without an entertainment troupe) and their headliner, the Hyderabad Mind. More or less by accident Mynah aids and abets the sneak thief, Baron C, while card-playing Mr Hastie, the Head Kennel Keeper, is, after his disgrace, replaced by his puffed-up assistant, Mr Invierno. But all these are subsidiary figures compared to the bound prisoner who, accompanied by guards, exercises late at night. The boys are wild to know who this mysterious man is and what his crime; his dreadful story eventually links to several of the passengers.

4 stars for now, but I'm still dealing with the last 30 pages. I am increasingly bothered by Ondaatje's almost over-the-top romanticism. He writes beautifully, and his ability to create space with words reminds me how much he loves film (and I suspect would like to create some himself), but he's almost Spielbergian in his privileging of sentimentality, adventure and love. Plus I'm kind of pissed at a deus ex machina that is first excused by a "I couldn't help myself, I'm a writer" and then when he can make it work -- doesn't. I'm sure he has his narrative reasons, which others will point out, but it sure pissed me off.

It's beautifully written, but the second half falls apart and the lovely writing wasn't enough to hold my attention.

2.5 starsMichael, at 11-years old, is on a ship. He makes friends with two other 11-year old boys at his table, “The Cat's Table”. This tells the story of their trip, and some of the other people they met on that trip. Ok, that may not quite be the gist of the story, but it's what I got from it. I wasn't expecting to like it, as the other book(s?) I've read by Ondaatje, I found boring (In the Skin of a Lion). I may or may not have also tried Anil's Ghost, but I can't quite recall.Anyway, it started off well. I thought it was going to be better than I expected, but not too long into it, it went downhill for me. It jumped back and forth in time, so I often missed where we were. It also jumped around a bit, focusing on different people. In the end, it just wasn't interesting enough for me to pay attention, so I missed much of it as I skimmed.

Since this is a somewhat autobiographical novel, I suppose it's fitting for the author to narrate the audio version. However, I'd place Michael Ondaatje among those authors who should never narrate their own books. His monotone delivery, his tendency to slur his words, the near absence of plot, and the non-chronological construction made this a difficult audio read. The novel's structure reminded me of Conrad's The Secret Agent. Like Conrad's book, there are elements of a good crime novel here, but the digressions dissipate narrative tension before it has a chance to build. A better reader might have been able to make something out of this. I'll give Ondaatje at least one more chance before I give up on him.

More like 2.5 stars for me. I just really didn't care what happened to the characters. I don't like to write lengthy reviews so I will just say I really had to push to finish this one for my book group-most in the group loved it, by the way. Perhaps the problem was that I listened to the audio book which was read by the author - which is always a bad idea for an author in my opinion. He was not good to say the least - mumbled sometimes, hardly used any inflection whatsoever, sounded like he wasn't very interested in what happened either.

I love the cover on this book. The font, the sepia tones, the old-fashioned liner being tossed atop a sea that looks askew, all hint at a journey of the past that did not go smoothly. The story is told in the first person from the perspective of an older man recalling the past; it is of himself as an 11 year old leaving his life in Sri Lanka to join his mother in England. "Some events take a lifetime to reveal their damage and influence." He must go alone on a 3 week journey by ship. He is still a child, but childhood is ready to fall behind him. Strong friendships develop quickly in the concentrated atmosphere of shipboard relationships. Childish exploits blend with adult events but the nature of these confusing times can never be properly understood or placed in context by the young still struggling to understand the grown-up world that surrounds them. "Sometimes we find our true and inherent selves during youth. It is a recognition of something that at first is small within us, that we will grow into somehow." We are taken back and forth from his childhood perspective to his adult one as he puzzles out the meanings of various shipboard incidents culminating in a shocking action.
The first half of the book especially felt like a series of short sharp episodes, standing out in relief against a blurred background. Ondaatje's prose as usual is smooth and effortless. "In our twenties we are busy becoming other people."

I enjoyed reading this book, i could really picture the characters as young boys on a ship enroute to England, but the story wasn't real cohesive for me. I kept expecting more. It seemed to leave a lot unanswered and the ending was one of those "what the ..." endings that I hate.

An interesting conception but I had to work my way through this.

It's the early 1950's and Michael, an eleven year old Sri Lankan boy boards a ship heading to England, to his mother and to a new life. He, and two other boys of the same age, Cassius and Ramadhin, are seated at the Cat's table for meals, placed furthest away from the Captain's table and well known to be the lowliest seating. As they roam the vast ocean-liner, getting up to mischief as only young boys can, they begin to form relationships with other passengers, particularly those placed at their table, but also those they inadvertently stumble across. In particular for Michael, there is his cousin Emily, two years older and mysterious and distant with it. The structure of the novel, whilst predominantly focused on the events transpiring on board, drifts at times with the wanderings of memory we all go through, and Michael visits the days of his childhood running wild and barefoot through dusty streets, and snapshots of his life after arriving in England. There is never too much detail given, each character eking out aspects of their story as seen through innocent eyes, and the various mysteries, beauties and fears that form get heightened as they travel closer and closer to the end of their journey. The writing is beautiful at times, but sometimes the lyricism means sacrificing a connection with the people and their lives. Various scenes are captivating, such as the description of the huge ship creeping its way through the Suez canal, but the links between them can feel a little arduous at times. In the end the events, both those caused by the boys and those simply witnessed by them, shape the trios lives in different ways. Nothing is quite as it seems, and the confines of a vast ship result in tangled webs linking them all indelibly together, even when they don't want to be. This is a skillful novel with well defined protagonists who have genuine back stories but never show their full hand.

The narrator (named Michael) of Ondaatje's The Cat's Table tells the tale of his 3 week journey by ship from Sri Lanka to England, when he was eleven, to be reunited with his mother. On the ship he becomes friends with 2 other boys near his age as well as a motley crew of adults who are also seated for meals at the "Cat's Table" -- the table farthest away from the Captain's Table in the ship. The 3 boys have the run of the ship and explore all its nooks and crannies as well as the nooks and crannies of their adult acquaintances. The voyage proves to be the defining period in Michael's life -- all his later experiences and memories radiate outward from it. I found the narrator's voice wonderfully authentic and was captured and drawn into his experiences.

A novel (so convincing, I was sure it was a memoir until the disclaimer at the end) about a ship voyage, about growing up, about memory. Small discrete passages, complete to themselves, make up the book, and at first there's a kind of relief that they don't have to fit together or add up to anything grand—just a sequence of memories beautifully rendered. But then, of course, they do come together and add up to something wonderful. Profound pleasure to be had in this book.

Four or five stars? Tough call. I may be compelled to up it to five.

Pretty good book, uses the plot device of voyage at sea from Sri Lanka to London in the fifties. Some unexpected developments, plot twists await. M. Ondaatje isn't the best reader a little too monotone, dangerous while driving especially at night.

I have not been a fan of Michael Ondaatje's past books but I loved this book! I enjoyed reading from the perspective of a young boy and laughed over his adventures and perception of adults. Any reader could relate to the feeling of loss the author portrayed over the childhood friendships that he had not maintained over the years, and to the important influence that these childhood experiences and relationships played in his later years. A wonderful Canadian novel.

Eins der wenigen Bücher ,die ich nicht zu Ende gelesen habe . Alles ein bisschen blutleer, die Personen berühren mich nicht wirklich.

Evocative imagery of a boy's journey into adulthood.

I really like Ondaatje's latest novel, more intimate than some of his earlier works, although purportedly non-autobiographical. In fact the author's disclaimer is quite revelatory. He says, "Although the novel sometimes uses the colouring and locations of memoir and autobiography, The Cat's Table is fictional--from the captain and crew and all its passengers on the boat down to the narrator. And while there was a ship named the Oronsay (there were in fact several Oronsays), the ship in the novel is an imagined rendering." Such a statement may be irrelevant, however, for if this novel is about anything it's about the imaginary nature of the past, whether that is the autobiographical, remembered past or the more or less invented past of the novel. The Cat's Table could just as well be Ondaatje's memoir / bildungsroman. The narrator is named Michael (Mynah is his nickname), by the way. At practically every turn, the adult narrator looking back at the perhaps most significant voyage of his life, reminds us that what he remembers may be not be fact, but rather more like a dream, pieced together from fragments of "real" memories, daydreams, wishes, tales told to him and by him, memories appropriated from others and outright fabrications. The time is 1954. The place is aboard a ship en route from Colombo to London. The characters are the passengers who dine every evening at the Cat's Table, as well as other passengers & crew of the Oronsay. The duration of the voyage is 21 days, plus an uncounted number of years between the time of the sea passage and the time of telling of it.

Note:
The Cat's Table may have fewer political implications than many of the author's books. Nevertheless, Ondaatje's fiction always recognizes historical context &, even if subtly, political & social realities. One of the most mysterious characters on the boat, particularly from the point of view of an 11 year old boy, is The Prisoner. Michael & his friends spy on the early morning walk around the deck of this shackled man who is rumored to have murdered an English judge. Although Ceylon became independent in 1948 it remained part of the Commonwealth (Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka in 1972). This probably explains why in 1954, an English judge could not have sat in a court in Ceylon, but could have come to the country as a consultant or, as the narrator speculates, a visitor. One has the sense that independent country or not, the fact that the judge allegedly murdered by The Prisoner was English makes his crime more serious than if he had murdered a native judge. It also complicates the boy's perplexity over the Prisoner's name, which he learns is Niemeyer: "It sounded too European, for he was clearly Asian."

On a closer reading, I downgraded to 4 stars simply because something about how the novel completes itself doesn't quite satisfy, perhaps only in that it isn't as wonderful as the first 2/3 of the book. The many-years-later repercussions of the voyage on the narrator's life aren't nearly as fascinating as the remembered/imagined voyage itself.

I decided this was a book I 'should' read but as I really didn't enjoy 'The English Patient' I had very low expectations for 'The Cat's Table'. I couldn't have been more wrong - this is a lovely book, a real coming of age story with fascinating characters and interesting experiences. I love how the story of the 21 days aboard the ship is interspersed with information about how the narrator's life turned out after he landed in England. This book is so beautifully written - it is a 'quiet' story that has a lasting impact.