The Cat’s Table is the first Michael Ondaatje novel I’ve read, but it won’t be the last. The book is deceptively simple; at first, its depths lurk below the surface.

The novel begins as a coming-of age tale; the narrator, Michael, an eleven year old boy, strikes out on a three-week boat journey from Sri Lanka to join his mother in England. Michael meets two other boys on the boat and they become a rambunctious trio, enjoying many adventures onboard. Michael also meets an interesting retinue of adults, each with secrets.

Interspersed in the book are glimpses from the narrator’s adult life, the last half of the novel in particular (for me, the second half of the novel turned a pleasant story into a gem). The behind-the-scenes lives of the adults on the boat voyage are slowly revealed.

The book has an autobiographical thread running through it as well; the narrator’s name is Michael, he travelled from Sri Lanka to England as a boy, and he grew up to be a writer in North America. There is an interesting, third-person introductory section to the novel (the rest of the novel is written in first-person), which includes a wistful statement, as if from the mind of a man looking back at the child he was, or possibly the author inventing the character in the story:  “I try to imagine who the boy on the ship was. Perhaps a sense of self is not even there…” (p.4).

Ondaatje writes wonderfully; occasionally, I would pause for a moment to appreciate a turn of phrase: so effortless, so well crafted.

Recommended.

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