The Cat's Table

Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table made the 2011 Giller Prize Short List.

The Cat's Table is named after the lowliest dining table on the Oronsay, a cruise ship traveling from Colombo to England in 1954. The narrator is an eleven-year-old Sri Lankan boy named Michael (nicknamed Mynah). Michael is traveling to England to be reunited with his mother who has been living in England for five or six years at the opening of the novel.

At the cat's table Michael meets two boys around his age, who become his constant companions throughout the 21-day voyage. Cassius is a notorious troublemakers. He and Michael went to the same school in Colombo so they are aware of each other but aren't friends at the beginning of the voyage. Ramadhin is quiet, smart and physically frail ( he has allergies and a bad heart). Also at the cat's table with the boys, are a host of colourful character, each with an interesting, if not mysterious reason for being on the ship. Michael's older cousin, Emily is also  on board the ship.

The Cat's Table has an Agatha Christie murder mystery quality to it. During the 21-day voyage, Michael discovers several interesting plots unfolding among his fellow passengers. One of the world's wealthiest men is on board, traveling to England to seek treatment for a curse; there's a thief stealing from first-class cabins; and a dangerous prisoner is being transported to England to stand trial for the murder of a judge.

I love a good mystery and under all of its literary greatness that's exactly what The Cat's Table is.

Ondaatje's style is subdued but compelling. The plot skips back and forth between the time on the ship and the future. In this way Ondaatje shows and tells the reader the answers to many of the plot's mysteries.

4/5

Next up: The Free World by David Bezmozgis