Today in Bahrain

Monday Night BookClub

Time : 6 pm – 9 pm

Venue: Words BookstoreCafé- Jannusan

The Cat’s Table is a novel by Canadian author Michael Ondaatje first published in 2011. It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Ondaatje himself went on such a voyage in his childhood, from Sri Lanka to England.

The central character and narrator named Michael, an unaccompanied 11-year-old boy, boards an ocean liner, the Oronsay, in Colombo en route to England via the Suez canal and the Mediterranean. For meals on board Michael is sat at the “cat’s table” (the one furthest from the Captain’s table) with other boys Ramadhin and Cassius and other misfit characters. The book follows the adventures of Michael and these boys while they are aboard the Oronsay, and Michael’s later perspective as an older man looking back on this boyhood voyage.