Customer Reviews

CAT'S EYE

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

CAT'S EYE by Margaret Atwood

In CAT'S EYE, Margaret Atwood tells the story of Elaine Risley, an avant-garde painter who finds herself reflecting on her tumultuous childhood when she returns to her home town of Toronto for a retrospective art exhibit. It has been many years since she set foot in Canada, where she grew up moving from place to place, due to her father's career as an entomologist. The story is told in flashbacks, as the story of her current life as a painter, on her second marriage, is told in-between the story of her childhood. Two plot lines run parallel to each other, until the very end when both the past and her present collide.

Elaine's first years were spent travelling with her family, never having a best friend. It is all she yearns for, to have a real girl friend. All she had during those early years was her brother, who as he grew older drifted away from her, leaving her alone to fend for herself. When her father finally settles down and buys a house, she begins to make her first set of real friends. However, how does one define a friend? Elaine becomes part of a group of girls that seem to be living under the steel hand of Cordelia, the ringleader. Cordelia treats them all as if she was a dictator and they were her subjects, but her treatment of Elaine is totally unforgivable. Elaine is tormented to a point where her own mental health is jeopardized, and at one point one wonders how she ever survived.

But survive she did. As Elaine tells her story, we see how she developed from a very insecure and needy young girl to a woman who understands why she made the choices she did as a child, and became a very successful painter, secure in who she was and where she had come from. The key to her understanding is her friendship with Cordelia, the young girl who treated Elaine like dirt, yet towards whom Elaine felt a type of longing for, years after she had last seen Cordelia. It is a psychologically themed book, as usual, layered upon different levels of plots and subplots and characters. Margaret Atwood is the queen of this form of novel, and it is no wonder she is one of the best storytellers today. This was my fourth Atwood novel, and I will not hesitate to read my next. Although not as complex as THE BLIND ASSASSIN, nor as prophetic as THE HANDMAID'S TALE, CAT'S EYE stands alone as a great book that is a must-read for any fan. I give this book 5 stars.

Other reviewers have used the word "haunting" to describe this novel, and I must agree. This book stayed with me long after I finished it, and compelled me to read even when I was too tired to do so. At first, I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. Elaine, the protagonist, does not come across as a strong character; indeed, she is almost painfully introspective and introverted. Her inner life is rich, however, and her ruminations about her family and friends are quite perceptive. So I kept reading and allowed Elaine to reveal herself to me. As a girl, Elaine grows up in a family that is unusual, but loving and supportive of her. Her "friends" are another story. I don't think I've ever read anything that describes so well the cruelty that young girls are capable of. The social and psychological aspects of growing up are no better shown than here. However, this is the strongest part of the book. Elaine's adult life, colored as it was by her past, is not as richly portrayed, but she remains an interesting person. Her art is her catharsis, as personal and as difficult for an outsider to understand as is the artist herself. This book is an eerie coming-of-age tale, told with poetic beauty and sorrow.

Top 50. I've probably read this book three times. The first time, I was about 21 years old and maybe not far enough yet out of the hard kind of high school years that those of us glasses-wearing skinny smart loner girls have if we're not careful. One of the creepiest, scariest, saddest books I've ever encountered. Atwood gets inside the skin of a teenage girl not only scorned, but tortured by her peers. Gripping, and makes huge demands on one's empathy, compassion, and patience for the main character. Great moments of beauty, but real encounters with evil, apathy, and terror.

This multi-layered book about how childhood experiences impact on the rest of life's journey, tackles a subject rarely explored. This subject is how truly horrifying children's emotional cruelty to one another can be. Sure there have been lots of stories about English boys beating each other up, and inflicting nasty physical tortures on one another, but this book is a rarity because it tells of how little girls, as young as nine, inflict emotional torture on each other. There is much more to this book however. Cat's eye explores the whole life journey of a woman after these miserable childhood experiences, and her preoccupation throughout life with the "friend" who was the ringleader of these children's "reindeer games". None of what I have written so far describes how magnificent the prose and poetry of this book is. It explores many other topics such as art, marriage and old age. It is very much a novel that is primarily of interest to women which may be why it didn't win the Booker Prize. It's my favorite book in the world, except perhaps for the Robber Bride also by Atwood.

I am a seventeen year old girl and this book really struck a chord within me. The things that the girls did to Elaine sent a chill down my spine but they didn't shock me. At all. I had friends much like Elaine's and I wouldn't be surprised if I had once been a friend like that.
The novel was well written and the first half of it had me entranced but as the novel continued on, I felt as though Atwood had grown bored with the plot. I forced myself to finish the book just because I had read two of her other novels (The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake) and loved them.

I first read Cat's Eye upon it's publication in 1989. I was twelve years old and at that time particularly enjoyed the bits about her adolescence. However, I did not fully understand the painful magic, that is the real beauty in this tale, until the age of 20. This novel is a woman's struggle to deal the demons of her past, her intense love/hate relationship with the elusive Cordelia, and her own life as a woman relating to other women. Although the main charachter, Elaine, claims to " not understand girls" and is openly heterosexual, there is a searing lesbian melodrama that lurks within her obsession with Cordelia. This subtle element provides taut frustration to the story. The grisly description of life in Toronto in the 40's and 50's is also a wonderful, perhaps educational, bonus. Ms. Atwood's clever insights into the cruelty of children, the secret relationships of women, and the workings of universe-according to Stephen Hawking, Physicist and a blurry, unaccepting and somehow unbelievable God- are truly what makes this novel an unforgettable reading experience for anyone, male or female.

Generally, I like to be analytical and logical when writing about literature. This is what we are taught at university, after all. This novel, however, left me so astounded that I couldn't even talk about it to friends. I finished it more than six months ago and, in a way, have been grappling with it ever since. Scenes from it seem to randomly invade my mind. Surely if a mere work of fiction can hold this power for such a length of time, it must be worth more than the sum of its parts.

The only point I really wish to make about it, is that there should be no gender discrimination in recommending this novel. Why anybody should feel that it is meant for a female audience is beyond me. Within the extremely rich layers of its narrative, the novel reveals essential truths about the way in which the process of growing up affects everybody. The fact that the main characters are women is simply not relevant beyond the fact that the narrator herself is a woman. Margaret Atwood is far too great a writer to have confined to such banalities.

"Haunting" is possibly the best way to describe this work and I am sure that every perceptive reader will be haunted by the way in which Elaine's experiences are eventually reflected in her art. It is, quite simply, one of the greatest novels I have ever read. But then again, every Atwood novel I read (and I have read them all) just confirms my opinion that she is one of the greatest writers of all time.

In essence, Cat's Eye is a story about the relationship between victim and bully. But in reality, it is so much more. It is a chronicle of an era, a psychological study, and above all, a beautiful piece of writing.

Elaine Risley is a successful Canadian painter who comes back to the city she grew up in for a retrospective exhibition. Her return to Toronto, a city she always hated, sparks a chain of painful memories and forces her to confront herself. In doing so, Elaine keeps coming back to Cordelia, her best friend who bullied her mercilessly when they were young. Elaine realises that Cordelia is still a part of her life, although she hasn't seen her for years and doesn't know where she is, and that in order to free herself from her memories, she must also free Cordelia.

Elaine's early childhood was spent moving around the north of Canada with her entomologist father, mother and brother. During this time she longed for female friendship, but after moving to Toroto and a permanent school, she realises this is not what she wants. Girls are sneaky and sly. They destroy each other. Elaine feels like an imposter whenever she plays with girls, and has to learn their ways. Boys, on the other hand, are her secret allies. When Cordelia comes into the scene, she almost immediately begins to take out her feelings of inferiority on Elaine. Although Elaine eventually emerges from this bullying intact (or so she thinks), the scars still remain years later. In order to protect herself, Elaine became detached from herself and the events occurring around her, and this continues throughout her later life. This is reflected in the writing style, which can seem cold and clinical in places, but is also incredibly emotive and almost heart breaking as well.

Overall, this book is a beautiful account of someone's life and their attempts to reconcile themselves with their past. Although I know many people who absolutely hated it, I would reccomend everyone at least tries it. Interestingly enough, I didn't like this book much the first time I read it, I found it depressing. But second time round, I fell in love. So give it a try; stick with Cat's Eye till the end, it's worth it.

Cat's Eye is a descriptive piece about a middle-aged artist recalling her girlhood friendships. Elaine is refreshingly not a pink, fluffy, girly girl (ie the Paris Hilton type). In fact, she discusses in the book how much better she relates to men then women. It is not a suprise, therefore, that she faced challenges in female friendships. As Atwood described the torment Elaine went through during these "friendships", and the results of it, I could not help but wonder if this was an autobiographical account. Her descriptions of Elaine's self mutilation at age nine were impeccable and turned my stomach, and I felt the same emotions the main character was feeling. But, this is what a good book is supposed to do.

The nine year old Elaine is in a position in which no one can help her in. Her mother, brother, father, and teachers cannot help her. The torment the trio of girls inflict upon Elaine is a silent, sneaky one, the type that only young girls can master. They always look like little girls just playing, when in reality the wounds being inflicted are just as significant as a broken bone. The inability of adults to intervene is profoundly realistic. The isolation Elaine feels as a result is what forces her to fend for herself, and eventually surpass her tormenter in strength. After which, they become "friends" again, and Cordelia gets whats coming to her (although this was very heartbreaking). This tormenter-turned friend and her memory haunt Elaine throughout her adulthood.

What Elaine wants more than anything is closure, at this late date. How many of us have unresolved relationships with former friends? Probably most of us. When it becomes obvious that this closure will remain unfulfilled, Elaine's realization of this reality is very well conveyed. I, as the reader, was just as disappointed as Elaine that Cordelia had lost her "tendency to exist". The subtle but very real tragedy of lost chances to repair relationships comes to the forefront when we realize that our friend is gone for good, and will remain ever after a memory. Will Elaine be able to move on? Like many of us, it appears that Elaine will always carry Cordelia with her as an integral part of her being.

This book takes patience, and is not an easy read. However, it is rich in content, description, and imagery. Atwood has a gift, and I can only thank her for sharing it with us.

I would give this book a 4 ½ star rating if it were possible. What keeps it from being a 5-star is the lack of better editing that could have made some parts less repetitive. However, the book is completely engrossing and well-crafted. Some of Atwood's observations are so poignant and finely shaded, it left me wishing I had written them.

I didn't find the flashback scenes confusing. After the first few sections, the pattern of what is the present and what was the past became obvious: the first chapter of every section, except the last, dealt with the present while the remaining chapters of each section were flashbacks/memories.

I think most women who grew up with brothers and/or have more guy friends than girl friends will relate well to this book. Being one of those women, I found Atwood's rendering of the intricacies of girls' play versus boys' quite interesting and on the mark. It seems that women who grew up with sisters know how to play these games well while women who grew up without sisters sometimes get tripped up.

But while the childhood torment shapes Elaine and influences her life in profound ways, it is by no means the only story. Elaine and her friends grow up. Elaine and Cordelia become friends in high school where the power balance shifts. Reasons why Cordelia, the main "antagonist," becomes a sort of emotional bully and why her character, her vitality slowly fades become sadly clearer.

At the same time, because her friendship with Cordelia so powerfully shapes Elaine, she feels Cordelia's influence throughout her life even when she no longer sees her friend. At times, she seems even to hear Cordelia's voice and follow in her painful footsteps. The Toronto retrospective of Elaine's artwork allows her to come back and face the memories and figure out why Cordelia needed to emotionally abuse Elaine and why Elaine can understand and forgive Cordelia after all these years. In a way, they needed each other because they were looking for the same thing: friendship and acceptance.

The imaginative descriptions of Elaine's art workwere almost too much! While reading the book, I envied how creative Atwood's mind really was. While writing this magnificent book, she also conjured up in her writing some powerful visual images.

Finally, Atwood's ability to tell a very real and human story against the back drop of the feminist movement was exciting and nuanced. She illustrated the impact the women's movement had on relationships between the character and other women artists and Elaine and her husband. At the same time, she conveyed a sense of how difficult it was to find a comfortable position in a powerful movement; for example, how does a woman embrace feminism without feeling as if she has to give up all symbols of "female oppression," such as wanting to look pretty, shaving one's legs, having a child WITH a HUSBAND? While some may say these issues are dated in today's world, they seem relevant still when women have to justify why they do/don't identify themselves as "feminists." Or why they have to qualify the label.

This book is superbly written and realized.