Cat’s Eye is a story about friendship, family, memory, and, especially, trauma. It follows the life of Elaine from childhood through about age 50. Like The Blind Assassin, also by Margaret Atwood, this novel alternates between past and present and is primarily set in the past. Most of the novel occurs when Elaine is about age 8-10.
Elaine and her parents and older brother had a nomadic lifestyle during Elaine’s early childhood. Her father is an entomologist who travels around looking at bugs. When Elaine is about 8 years old, he gets a job as a college professor in Toronto, and the family settles down there. Elaine makes friends with Carol, then Grace, then Cordelia, and they become a foursome.
The trauma comes in when the friends, spearheaded almost entirely by Cordelia, begin to verbally and emotionally bully Elaine. It gets intense and results in Elaine’s self-harming, becoming depressed, and having suicidal thoughts. Honestly, it was hard to read about, and had the book continued to focus on it for much longer, I might have stopped reading. It’s important to the novel; this trauma informs the rest of Elaine’s life in various ways, but it was – understandably and intentionally – upsetting to read about. Some of the lasting effects include ongoing depression and insecurity for Elaine. She becomes a painter, and these experiences also show up in her art in various ways.
I don’t really feel that I got a good sense of who Elaine is a person, partly because so much of the novel is set when she’s a child. Those parts are written very much through a child’s eyes, without the analysis or insight that an adult might bring when reflecting on the past. I also don’t find her particularly likeable as she gets older, although I can sympathize with some of her character traits and choices.
I can’t say that I enjoyed the book. I don’t know that it’s really meant to be enjoyed. I don’t even know if I liked it. But I will say that it kept me engaged, which says something. Although, I guess that’s to be expected – this is Margaret Atwood, after all. She writes engaging books.
CBR15Passport #5 – book I already own
