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The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje: review

Towards the end of Michael Ondaatje’s 1982 memoir, Running in the Family , is a chapter entitled “Harbour”. Describing the luxury liners, the blue tugs and the Maldive fishing vessels that skim out into the thick night air from Sri Lanka’s main port, the author recalls a “frail memory dragged up out of the past”: it is the early Fifties and he is going to the harbour to say goodbye to a family member at dusk.

Turn the opening pages of Ondaatje’s sixth novel, The Cat’s Table , and this harbour landscape greets the mind’s eye once more. The narrator, Michael, is remembering himself as a boy of 11 waiting for the ocean liner Oronsay to sail from Colombo docks. This time he is a passenger himself, travelling alone on the 21-day voyage to England.

Each day of the crossing he dines at the cat’s table, Table 76, “the least privileged place” in the ship’s dining room, shared with a cast of misfits including two other boys, Ramadhin and Cassius. Exploring the ship, going where young boys shouldn’t, the three soon learn that what’s important “happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power”.

And like so much of Ondaatje’s fiction, the most important space is the one that separates the present and the past, the fluid relationship between memory and history, biography and truth.

Both Michaels – the narrator and the author – are Sri Lankan-born writers who emigrated to England as children and are now settled in Canada. Yet Ondaatje plays with the lines between where fiction begins and fact ends – the shifting, mercurial seascape of memory and identity.

The Cat’s Table deserves to be recognised for the beauty and poetry of its writing: pages that lull you with their carefully constructed rhythm, sailing you effortlessly from chapter to chapter and leaving you bereft when forced to disembark at the novel’s end.

BVI Charter: Book the BVI Sailing Vacation Aboard a Luxury Yacht ...

Imagine sailing through the British Virgin Islands aboard a luxury yacht, exploring the beaches, towns and scenery of the BVI. Sail around the islands on your own terms, and spend the days fishing, snorkeling, sightseeing and more. Sound like a dream Caribbean vacation? Visit Manuel Reef Marina in Sea Cows Bay, Tortola, to charter your own yacht and begin your BVI sailing adventure.

BVI charter companies offer a range of yachts to accommodate groups of all sizes. The Lagoon 38 is the ideal size yacht for family cruising or for couples. This BVI sailing yacht is a fast, ocean-going yacht or live-aboard family cruiser, offering large areas for socializing and relaxing inside and out.

The Leopard 38 is specially designed for BVI charter use—it handles easily, and has a generously sized cockpit as well as saloon and cabins. A master suite occupies the starboard hull, and the two other cabins in the port hull share heads and showers. The galley is up in the saloon. On the deck, the mainsheet traveler runs on an arch over the transom giving access to the water via a wide platform—perfect for relaxing, or jumping off to snorkel!

If you want to charter an extra spacious yacht for your BVI sailing vacation, book the Lagoon 410. This catamaran offers the latest in performance, handling and comfort—and provides unequaled headroom! Vacationers find this yacht quite maneuverable considering its size. This BVI sailing yacht offers 1 spacious queen berth, 2 large double berths, 2 heads, and sliding door access from cabin to saloon.

For larger groups, book the Norseman 430 for your BVI charter vacation. This spacious yacht sleeps 8 adults in total. The interior is largely open, well ventilated and comfortable, and offers a panoramic view from the salon. The galley provides room for multiple chefs. For BVI sailing, this boat is well-balanced, fast and easy to handle, and provides a diving platform and steps for easy access to the sea.

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