The Cat’s Table

　　曼．布克獎得主_麥可翁達傑，超越《英倫情人》巔峰新作
　　▲2011年橫掃加拿大全暢銷榜冠軍小說▲

　　《印刻》文學生活誌九月號－－「英倫情人翁達傑」封面專題－航行到完美的邊緣

　　「貓桌」－距離船長最遠的桌子。「我」被分配在這裡。
　　這是一個純真的故事。一名11歲少年的海上旅桯。
　　貓桌無關緊要，沒有需要恐懼，需要解開的謎。
　　因為早在成年以前，我們就長成大人了。
　　「如《頑童歷險記》海上版。」

　　一九五○年代初，來自斯里蘭卡可倫坡的十一歲男孩麥可登上一艘開往英格蘭的船，母親正在大洋對岸等他。上船後的餐廳裡，他被分配在「貓桌」──距離船長 最遠的桌子──象徵船上最「沒地位」的一群人。廿一天的海上航程中，他和同桌兩名同齡男孩成為至交。隨著船隻航過印度洋，穿過蘇伊士運河，駛進地中海，幾 個男孩也經歷一個又一個冒險，像被釋放的水銀般橫衝直撞。船上有一座犬舍和一座熱帶植物園，乘客更是形形色色，包括行蹤飄忽的表姊愛蜜麗，籠罩陰影的藍斯 葛提小姐，最令男孩們好奇的是，每天深夜從艙底出來放風，戴著手銬腳鐐的囚犯。他的罪行與命運帶有一個令人驚愕的祕密，讓他們一輩子揮之不去。

　　書中隨著敘述者在艙室間移動，在當時歷險和成年後生活點滴間往復穿梭，說出一個又一個令人著迷的故事──時而辛辣尖銳，時而震撼人心──童年時代最神奇的，經常是最禁忌的，翁達傑是說故事的能手，藉由一生一次的海上冒險之旅，意外展開延續一生的回憶。

　　得獎紀錄
　　亞馬遜2011年文學類十大好書
　　《紐約時報》最受注目好書
　　吉勒文學獎決選

作者簡介

麥可．翁達傑(Michael Ondaatje)

　　出生於斯里蘭卡，目前住在加拿大的多倫多。他是一位小說家和詩人，著作包括《分離》、《菩薩凝視的島嶼》、《一輪月亮與六顆星星》、Coming Through Slaughter，和 The Collected Works of Billy the Kid；詩集：The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems、Secular Love、There’s a Trick with a Knife I’m Learning to Do……等；以及一本回憶錄：Running in the Family。他以《英倫情人》一書獲得布克獎。

　　In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the “cat’s table”—as far from the Captain’s Table as can be—with a ragtag group of “insignificant” adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: one man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narrator’s elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante, allowing him to see himself “with a distant eye” for the first time, and to feel the first stirring of desire.

　　Another Cat’s Table denizen, the shadowy Miss Lasqueti, is perhaps more than what she seems. And very late every night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner, his crime and his fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever.

　　As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boy’s adult years, it tells a spellbinding story—by turns poignant and electrifying—about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.

　　Michael Ondaatje is the author of five previous novels, a memoir, a nonfiction book on film, and several books of poetry. The English Patient won the Booker Prize; Anil’s Ghost won the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, the Giller Prize, and the Prix Medicis. Born in Sri Lanka, Michael Ondaatje now lives in Toronto.