The Cat's Table is the Cat's Meow!!!

October's read for my local book club, and what a treat Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table turned out to be!

Here's a good summary of the book which is taken from Good Reads:

Michael Ondaatje

Great Artwork!

"In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner bound for England – a ‘castle that was to cross the sea’. At mealtimes, he is placed at the lowly ‘Cat's Table’ with an eccentric group of grown-ups 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 become involved in the worlds and stories of the adults around them, tumbling from one adventure and delicious discovery to another, ‘bursting all over the place like freed mercury’. And at night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner – his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever."

I enjoyed the story very much and I really love the way that Ondaatje crafts the language. He is a talented Canadian author who has written many entertaining novels. My favorite of his is Anil's Ghost. It's definitely worth a try too!