An 11-year-old sets out on a three-week journey from Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka) to England in Michael Ondaatje鈥檚 The Cat鈥檚 Table. 鈥淭he English Patient鈥� writer loans his narrator certain autobiographical features 鈥� like his first name, his career, and his method of travel. But even before the cursed millionaire gets bitten by a second dog, readers will know that 鈥淭he Cat鈥檚 Table鈥� isn鈥檛 a memoir. What it is is a gorgeous piece of writing, meditating on the ways that an adolescent can be 鈥渟muggled away accidentally, with no knowledge of the act, into the future.鈥�
The book's title comes from Michael鈥檚 assigned seat at dinner on board the Oronsay, as far away from the captain鈥檚 table as you can get. There are two other unaccompanied boys, adventurous Cassius and frail Ramadhin, who, with Michael, form a triumvirate. There鈥檚 also a lovelorn botanist with an entire garden of poisonous plants in the hold, an expert markswoman traveling with two dozen pigeons she lovingly carries in padded pockets, a jazz pianist, a mute tailor, and a man who dismantles ships.
Also on board are Michael鈥檚 beautiful teenage cousin, Emily, who strikes up a friendship with a deaf girl; an 鈥渁unt鈥� who is supposed to keep an eye on Michael; the cursed millionaire; a gentle scholar; a thief pretending to be an aristocrat; a roller-skating Australian; an acrobatic troupe of performers; and, most exciting for the boys, a chained prisoner who is only allowed on deck after everyone (besides the boys) is asleep.
Discovering that they are invisible to the 鈥渋mportant鈥� people on the ship, the boys turn the Oronsay into their personal playground. Between sneaking into the gold-painted pool and raiding the first class鈥檚 breakfast buffet at dawn, noshing on their pilfered goodies in a lifeboat (they鈥檇 already eaten the emergency chocolate rations), and spying on the prisoner at midnight, the boys鈥� days are satisfyingly full. 鈥淲ho realizes how contented feral children are?鈥� the adult Michael muses.
Their one rule: 鈥淓ach day we had to do at least one thing that was forbidden.鈥� And that鈥檚 before Michael almost unknowingly becomes the thief鈥檚 assistant and Ramadhin ties Cassius and Michael to the deck, a la Odysseus, so they can experience a cyclone鈥檚 rage first-hand.
Ondaatje has always been capable of conjuring up mesmerizing images to draw in a reader, but with 鈥淭he Cat鈥檚 Table鈥� he holds back just enough so the lyricism doesn鈥檛 overwhelm the story. As the ship journeys from Port Said through the Mediterranean, the characters鈥� lives link up in unexpected ways, and the adventures take a decidedly less playful turn.
Michael engages in a bit of disinformation in the beginning, claiming that the 鈥渟ea journey, as I originally remembered it, was placid. It is only now, years later, having been prompted by my children to describe the voyage, that it becomes an adventure, when seen through their eyes, even something significant in a life. A rite of passage.鈥�
Given the violence that lurks aboard ship, 鈥減lacid鈥� is a highly improbable adjective to describe the voyage of the Oronsay. It is, however, a voyage highly worth taking.
