Cat's eye

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Margaret Atwood: Cat's eye (1988, Bloomsbury)

Hardcover, 256 pages

English language

Published Aug. 22, 1988 by Bloomsbury.

ISBN:
978-0-7475-0304-0
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5 stars (4 reviews)

Cat's Eye is the story of Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who returns to Toronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art. Engulfed by vivid images of the past, she reminisces about a trio of girls who initiated her into the fierce politics of childhood and its secret world of friendship, longing, and betrayal. Elaine must come to terms with her own identity as a daughter, a lover, an artist, and a woman -- but above all she must seek release from her haunting memories. Disturbing, hilarious, and compassionate, Cat's Eye is a breathtaking novel of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life.

35 editions

reviewed Cat's eye by Margaret Atwood

The genius of Atwood!

5 stars

I've had Cat's Eye on my bookshelf for ages and have been saving it as I absolutely love Margaret Atwood books. We bought several at the same time and this is the last of them. Need to go searching out some more now! Cat's Eye tells of the bullying relationship between two young girls in 1940s and 1950s Toronto. I was fascinated by the wealth of detail given about life for children in this period, especially by how much of their school day was remarkably similar to mine in 1970s and 1980s Britain! There are several child and adult characters portrayed and all are wonderfully real people. Our heroine, Elaine, jumps back and forth in time as she revisits her childhood trying to discover what events back then define the person she is now. I particularly enjoyed reading this discovery even though some is quite harrowing. The authenticity of her …

reviewed Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Review of "Cat's Eye" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

There's just something about Margaret Atwood's writing that I find incredibly compelling. I struggled a bit in the beginning, but once the introspective elements get rolling, I was totally grabbed by it.

The protagonist Elaine is a middle-aged painter who after many years returns to Toronto, the city she grew up in. It's a story that shows how childhood can shape a person, a story that shows how cruel children can be. Elaine has a dysfunctional friendship with a circle of girls who bully her, things she can only reflect in her paintings. It's wistful at times, as Elaine struggles with her return to Toronto, and with aging, and it can be quite visceral, in her damaged relationships with the other girls, or the men in her life.

If you enjoyed Atwood in the past, there's a good chance that you might enjoy this as well.

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Subjects

  • Modern fiction