BookTalkers: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaajte

BookTalkers discussion group meets at 6:00 pm in the Armstrong Conference Room

The Cat’s Table: Monday, February 18, 6 pm

 In 1953, a boy's life is permanently upended when he boards an ocean liner in Ceylon to begin a new life with his mother who is living in London. His 21 unsupervised days aboard the Oronsay prove momentous: ‘This journey was to be an innocent story within the small parameter of my youth,' muses the narrator 60 years on, but for 11-year-old Michael things shift from the moment he is seated at 'the cat's table’-- the opposite of the honor of the Captain's Table--with a group of ‘insignificant adults' and two other boys. As the ship travels along, the boys go from one adventure to another. Michael Ondaatje’s newest novel --- by turns poignant and electrifying --- is about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a sea voyage.