The Cat's Table

Michael Ondaatje is a master writer. His prose is so lyrical, it flows, it wraps around your imagination. I wasn't sure what I was going to make of The Cat's Table. The premise seemed simple enough, but simple things did not happen on the ship, Oronsay, as it traveled from Sri Lanka to England. There were so many twists and turns, paths not to be taken, and ones all too alluring.

The Cat's Table is primarily told from the perspective of Michael (nicknamed Mynah), on his journey to be reunited with his mother in England. The story feels so real as it's being told. Michael grows up to be an author, which is the last piece of information that makes you wonder if the tale is actually autobiographical. Much of what happens to the main character feels real. The people he meets feel real. It has a "life story" sensibility. You could be told this tale is a memoir and you would believe it. It is so believable, that Ondaatje includes a note at the end of the story telling the reader that the story is fictional. He did not take a trip on a boat called the Oronsay. Apparently, there were many boats with that name travelling from Sri Lanka to England during that time.

By the end of the novel, my heart had begun to reach out to Emily. I was so happy that she and Michael reconnected. I was glad that they figured out the truth of what happened to the CID agent. I loved all the characters. Cassius and Ramadhin felt like really people. They felt like they could have been life-long friends. I immensely enjoyed Mr. Daniels and Miss Lasqueti. Miss Lasqueti's story was an interesting one, folded into Michael's. Having finished the book, it really is difficult not to see these characters as real. They felt real. Ondaatje created people going on a journey, not just physical, but within themselves as well. I want to know what happened to all of them. How did they live their lives? Were they happy? Also, was Mynah ever Ondaatje's nickname? He took a trip like this when he was young. What interesting characters were on the boat with him? The Cat's Table still has me thinking. A beautiful read, The Cat's Table shows off Ondaatje at his lyrical best.

The Sun and Her Flowers

I'm so glad that I picked up The Sun and Her Flowers. I've slowly been reading more poetry over the last couple years. I had, of course, heard of Milk and Honey. It was on the Bestseller's list, bookish people were talking about it, my cousins were talking about it. Then, Rupi Kaur published another book. People were excited. When I saw The Sun and Her Flowers looking up at me from a display table, I felt I had to read it. I hadn't heard much about the new book yet, as it had not been as hyped as the first. Though since purchasing, I've been seeing more and more about it.

I connected with The Sun and Her Flowers, enjoying the words, the structure, the images. I've read that people are not sure that it is actually a book of poetry. I can see why they might think that. Rupi Kaur writes about being the child of immigrants, relationships, and discovering herself. They could easily be topics or sections in a memoir. There is memoir in Kaur's words. To me, however, The Sun and Her Flowers is poetry, even if you count the entire book as one long illustrated poem, the poem of her life.

There kept being short passages, moments, that I had to share. So, I Instagrammed them. They connected with me, the whole book did, the struggles that Kaur goes through. How often do we compare ourselves and our paths to others? I know I do all the time. As a mother, friend, daughter, writer, reader, and so many other ways, I have compared myself to others. How can I be there for my children more? Is my husband happy with me? Why aren't I writing more? Why can't I read as much as all these other people?

Kaur reflects on immigration, focusing much on the journey of her mother. It made my wonder about my own parents, particularly my mother (though both from Trinidad, my parents met here in Canada). From the stories they've told me, my father did all right. It was still difficult, but he wasn't sheltered the way my mother had been. My mother was the youngest and a girl. I also wonder about the difficulties her mother faced. She was a single mother bringing her children to a new country, leaving a place where, from what I can tell, her husband had been beloved (he died in a car accident when my mother was seven). They are powerful words indeed to make me thing about all these things.

The Sun and Her Flowers is a book I can see myself coming back to over and over again. It is a book I could just let live at my bedside or on my desk. A book where I can just randomly open a page and read a few words. A book full of words to meditate on, consider, question and inspire. I look forward to reading more of Kaur's work.

The Satanic Verses

Wow. So, The Satanic Verses is a long, long book. It is not an easy read, especially the first half. By about the last third, I felt like the story picked up more and I was actually interested in finishing it. By the final third, all the twisting, complex storylines were being brought to completion. Some of the subplots I thought were interesting, but didn't need to go into such detail. My main interest was in what happened to the main characters, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha. They fell, unharmed, from the sky. Why? What would they do with this gift of life? Though it wasn't easy, it was worth reading.

Should I address the controversy first? I always wondered what Salman Rushdie could have written that would have so incensed the leader of Iran to issue a fatwa calling for his death. Was the book blasphemous? Maybe. Was it making fun of Islam? After reading it, no, I don't think so. I think it was giving a different perspective or using certain events and the life of Prophet Mohammed (uwbp) to inspire a story, reflecting on the feelings of immigration and displacement. Also, within the context of the story, this is Gibreel's dream. In his dreams, he is the angel, watching the Prophet in these sequences. I don't think Rushdie was saying anything of what he wrote actually happened. Gibreel's mental state created this dream. I've read that Rushdie was surprised by this reaction. He thought some people might be angry, but he didn't think there would be so much violence surrounding it. Who would think their novel would create such vitriol? The amount of controversy it stirred, the bannings in so many countries, the burnings, of course this was something I would want to read. I could go deeper into the fatwa and whether it was actually used properly, the refutations by Islamic scholars, Human Rights violations, but I don't think that's necessary here. What I want to talk about is the story, the plot and the characters.

The entire novel had a dream-like quality to it. So much of what happens to Gibreel seems like a dream or vision. Saladin's experiences seem rooted in horror. Unlike Gibreel, Saladin has rejected his past, his roots. He has tried extremely hard to acclimate to his new country. He loves London and wants to be a Londoner. He wants to leave his youth behind. This is the opposite of Gibreel, who is a big part of Bollywood and life in India, though he too leaves, but he leaves for love. He meets Allie and she changes his whole world. There are a lot of things that change Gibreel, besides the fall. He's very reactionary, listening to others' voices instead of relying on his own, even though he dreams that he is the voice that speaks to the Prophet. Saladin goes through a lot of changes too, though many of his are physical. Is Saladin's ordeal reflective of what he goes through as an immigrant in a land that does not necessarily respect him? What about the people he meets who are like him? Are they also displaced migrants? There is so much beyond controversy in this novel. There are stories, allegories, emotion upheavals, mental breakdowns, and strange changes.

I don't think I can explain the complexities of this novel. There was a lot happening. There were a couple of times where I considered quitting, but I just had to know what happened. Like so many novels, it was the characters that kept me going. I wanted to know if Gibreel and Saladin would come together again and what the consequences of that would be. I wanted to know if Gibreel and Allie would stay together. I wanted to know what choices Saladin would end up making. Besides the main characters, I also wanted to know about Mishal, Baal, and Ayesha. I wanted to know about Saladin's father, Nasreen II, and Zeeny. So, maybe I took a couple breaks here and there, but knew I had to finish it. Of all the characters, Saladin's journey was the one that had me the most unsure. I didn't know if in the end I was going to like his character. A lot of bad things happened to him, but he did bad things too. I wasn't sure if I was going to like him in the end. I am still not sure if I like him, I just know he was a character I couldn't turn away from.

After all the ups and downs, and not knowing how it was all going to turn out, I liked The Satanic Verses. I don't think it's for everyone, definitely not a casual read, but it was worth every minute I spent with it.

The Sun Is Also A Star

Heartbreakingly perfect, The Sun Is Also A Star is simply an amazing novel. It tells the story of Daniel and Natasha and how two people who have never met can find each other and fall in love. Natasha is trying to stay in America, trying not to get deported, and her whole day is supposed to revolve around that. Then there's Daniel. He's supposed to prepare for and have the biggest interview of his whole life. Then they meet.

I really connected with Natasha and Daniel, as I am also a child of immigrants. It can be a difficult balance, trying to stay connected to the culture of your parents and being a part of the culture of the country you live in. Some people want you to be one way, others want you to be another. It's a wonderful thing to find someone who understands. I have friends who were in the same boat growing up, even though our parents were not necessarily from the same countries, we shared similar experiences. There is a struggle that I think maybe all children of immigrants go through, though maybe to different degrees depending on how "different" a parent's home country is. While Natasha is Jamaican and Daniel is Korean-American, they share similar life experiences. I really enjoyed the conversation about "where are you really from", as I have had that question asked many times. There's the food thing too.

Nicola Yoon creates not only complex, beautiful characters, but writes with emotion. The decisions that not only Natasha and Daniel make, but also Irene, Natasha and Daniel's respective parents, Charlie, Attorney Fitzgerald, and even the waitress at the restaurant, are full of heartache. Nothing is taken lightly, they all have deep, serious, inner lives that maybe our two main characters know nothing about. It comes through in the interesting style in which Yoon has structured her novel. I wonder if her first novel, Everything, Everything is written in the same style (a book that I absolutely now have to read). There were also great references to 90's grunge and a quiz that I watched Penny and Sheldon take on The Big Bang Theory, which made me so happy. A great plot, amazing characters and interesting style, I couldn't help but love The Sun Is Also A Star.

*I won The Sun Is Also A Star as an ARC from a Goodreads giveaway. Yay! 

In The Skin Of A Lion

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I adore Patrick Lewis as a main character. He’s so multi-dimensional and intriguing. I can never guess what he’s going to do next. All the people we meet in this story are held together by Patrick, or rather, their influence is felt by Patrick, making him turn left instead of right. I also think that many of his problems stem from first, the death of his father and second, his relationship with Clara. Of course, if neither of those things happened he wouldn’t be such a great character and this wouldn’t be such a fantastic story.

In The Skin Of A Lion is the second novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, originally published in 1987. I first read this novel about nine years ago and it became one of my favourites. It was for a 20th Century Canadian Literature class I was taking, where I read some really amazing books. Now, almost a decade later, I’ve read each of Michael Ondaatje’s novels and though I’ve enjoyed them, his first two are still my favourites.

I also don’t usually reread novels. I have felt that there are so many good books out there that I should be getting through my ever growing library. After reading some great bloggers and talking with some bookish friends, I’ve decided to reevaluate that stance. Though In The Skin Of A Lion had become one of my favourite books, I had a difficult time remembering details of the plot and all the characters. It all came back to me in my second reading and though I’ve read many books in between the first and second reading, In The Skin Of A Lion still reaches me and I think will stay with me more than before.

I love that this is a story takes place in a city I know. The main setting is Toronto, during the 1930s and I get to read about familiar landmarks being built, like the Bloor Street Viaduct. Ondaatje takes real events and weaves the fictional life of Patrick Lewis into them. It is brilliant and detailed. I also enjoy that a large part of the plot is the plight of immigrant workers, they were paid very little for dangerous work and were often not credited for the work they did. Patrick’s third meeting with Alice takes place at a rally, which different groups of immigrants hold in order to discuss their plight. Though born in Ontario, Patrick and Alice identify with the immigrants and live among them.

In The Skin Of A Lion has been described as post-modern, and in my opinion it is. I know that can put some people off. Don’t let it. This is a great novel with an incredible cast of characters. I’ve been focusing a lot of character development lately and this novel is a great example of how even secondary and minor characters can grow and change over the course of a novel. In The Skin Of A Lion remains one of my favourites.

Escape to Etobicoke

“Escape to Etobicoke” is a short story in the collection The Book of Ifs and Buts by Rabindranath Maharaj. I was drawn to this collection for a couple reasons. I liked the title. I liked the book cover. I liked the name of the author. After reading the little blurb about him on the back, I thought he was someone I could relate too. (Maharaj immigrated to Canada from Trinidad, just like my parents.) Therefore, I had to buy his book of short stories.

Like other stories in the collection, “Escape to Etobicoke” is about the issues immigrants face when moving to Canada. The main character, Robert, was journalist at a prominent Trinidadian newspaper. Now he tutors a boy in English. He tries to make his life work here. He talks about the relatives he stayed with, also immigrants, formerly teachers. Now they’re shift workers. He talks about their children, who are Canadian, who speak differently, act differently from their parents and what that does to their family. He faces difficulties trying to make this new life for himself and refuses to go back to Trinidad.

The story takes the form of a letter to a friend. I’m never sure with letters-as-short-stories. Is this really the way someone would write a letter? I don’t think so. Maharaj actually seems to address this issue. In the letter, the writer, referring to the language that he’s using, says that he’s not a poet. The reader remembers that he is a journalist and so then presumably has a way with words.

I like that the main character describes what he has come to learn as the difference between Americans and Canadians. I also like the way he describes the hardships faced by immigrants. He does this without being melodramatic or begging for sympathy. It’s a description of his experiences. You get the feeling that perhaps “Escape to Etobicoke” started as an actual letter that Maharaj wrote to someone back in Trinidad. I suppose there's a lot I like about this story and the collection it comes from.