Ratings11
Average rating4
From Michael Ondaatje: an electrifying new novel, by turns thrilling and deeply moving -- one of his most vividly rendered and compelling works of fiction to date. In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner bound for England. At mealtimes, he is placed at the lowly "Cat's Table" with an eccentric and unforgettable group of grownups and two other boys. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys find themselves immersed in the worlds and stories of the adults around them. At night they spy on a shackled prisoner -- his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. Looking back from deep within adulthood, and gradually moving back and forth from the decks and holds of the ship to the years that follow the narrator unfolds a spellbinding and layered tale about the magical, often forbidden discoveries of childhood and the burdens of earned understanding, about a life-long journey that began unexpectedly with a sea voyage.
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4 stars for now, but I'm still dealing with the last 30 pages. I am increasingly bothered by Ondaatje's almost over-the-top romanticism. He writes beautifully, and his ability to create space with words reminds me how much he loves film (and I suspect would like to create some himself), but he's almost Spielbergian in his privileging of sentimentality, adventure and love. Plus I'm kind of pissed at a deus ex machina that is first excused by a “I couldn't help myself, I'm a writer” and then when he can make it work – doesn't. I'm sure he has his narrative reasons, which others will point out, but it sure pissed me off.
What a wonderful adventure and story of 3 boys who have nearly complete freedom for 3 weeks on a ship filled with mystery and excitement. Great listen. Recommend!