The cat's table, [a novel], Michael Ondaatje
Type
Label
The cat's table, [a novel], Michael Ondaatje
Language
eng
Form of composition
not applicable
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Literary text for sound recordings
fiction
Main title
The cat's table
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not applicable
Oclc number
740492046
Responsibility statement
Michael Ondaatje
Sub title
[a novel]
Summary
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
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