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Title details for The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje - Available

The Cat's Table

by Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the “cat’s table”—as far from the Captain’s Table as can be—with a ragtag group of “insignificant” adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: one man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narrator’s elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante, allowing him to see himself “with a distant eye” for the first time, and to feel the first stirring of desire. Another Cat’s Table denizen, the shadowy Miss Lasqueti, is perhaps more than what she seems. And very late every night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner, his crime and his fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever.
 
As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boy’s adult years, it tells a spellbinding story—by turns poignant and electrifying—about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    October 4, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780307943743
      • File size: 201972 KB
      • Duration: 07:00:46

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Michael Ondaatje's intonation--his voice lulls and rocks--is perfect for his newest novel. Eleven-year-old Michael leaves his home in Ceylon and travels alone by boat to begin a new life in London. Michael roams around the ship with two young friends he meets at the "cat's table," where he dines far away from the captain with less wealthy passengers. Ondaatje's slow pace allows listeners to savor his fine words and rich images as he describes Michael's adventures and the ship's eccentric characters. The story is told from the point of view of the adult Michael, who looks back on his youthful trip with poignancy and full awareness of the impact of his journey. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from January 30, 2012
      It only adds to the autobiographical nature of Ondaatje’s novel—concerning a young boy who journeys by ship from Sri Lanka to England in the 1950s—that the author narrates this audio edition of his latest work. The mellifluous tones of Ondaatje’s accent (part British and part subcontinental) are themselves testament to the memoiristic underpinnings of his novel. He reads without a professional’s preciseness, and yet, knowing his work as well as he does, captures the subtle music of its understated prose. Listeners will relish Ondaatje’s occasional variations from traditional British pronunciation, each one serving as a symbol of the book itself, which spans two continents and two eras. Listening to Ondaatje read becomes a pleasure in its own right; being neither here nor there, the author is himself much like the tale he tells, and the boy at its heart. A Knopf hardcover.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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