Reviews
"A haunting work of art." Time "Lyrical, startling in its mastery of language, compelling in its handling of memory and forgetting, in its understanding of the ravages of the unransomed past." London Free Press "Atwood conceives Elaine with a poet's transforming fire; and delivers her to us that way, a flame inside an icicle." Los Angeles Times "Irresistible.…This book is about life for all of us." The Times (U.K.) "No reader will fail to be moved, even to tears, by this novel. It is poignant and lingering." Aritha van Herk, Calgary Herald "A strong and intriguing novel, a literary event" Toronto Star "Remarkable, funny, and serious, brimming with uncanny wisdom." Cosmopolitan "Cat's Eye is a novel which it is difficult not to be swept off one's feet by. It is enormously intelligent, compassionate, superbly written." Atlantic Provinces Book Review "A daring piece of work.…Atwood ups the aesthetic ante, placing the mundane in a speculative framework where nothing can be taken for what it seems to be, in art or life, in past or present, in time or out of it." San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Nightmarish, evocative, heartbreaking.…" The New York Times Book Review "Tremendous . . . totally grips the reader with its imaginative power.… Hamilton Spectator "Put this haunting, taunting account of childhood on the must-read list" Saskatoon StarPhoenix, "A haunting work of art." Time "Lyrical, startling in its mastery of language, compelling in its handling of memory and forgetting, in its understanding of the ravages of the unransomed past." London Free Press "Atwood conceives Elaine with a poet's transforming fire; and delivers her to us that way, a flame inside an icicle." Los Angeles Times "Irresistible.…This book is about life for all of us." The Times(U.K.) "No reader will fail to be moved, even to tears, by this novel. It is poignant and lingering." Aritha van Herk,Calgary Herald "A strong and intriguing novel, a literary event" Toronto Star "Remarkable, funny, and serious, brimming with uncanny wisdom." Cosmopolitan "Cat's Eyeis a novel which it is difficult not to be swept off one's feet by. It is enormously intelligent, compassionate, superbly written." Atlantic Provinces Book Review "A daring piece of work.…Atwood ups the aesthetic ante, placing the mundane in a speculative framework where nothing can be taken for what it seems to be, in art or life, in past or present, in time or out of it." San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Nightmarish, evocative, heartbreaking.…" The New York Times Book Review "Tremendous . . . totally grips the reader with its imaginative power.… Hamilton Spectator "Put this haunting, taunting account of childhood on the must-read list" SaskatoonStarPhoenix
Synopsis
Controversial painter Elaine Risley returns from Vancouver for a retrospective of her work. Here, in Toronto, the city of her youth, she confronts the submerged layers of her past her unconventional family, her eccentric and brilliant brother, the self-righteous Mrs. Smeath, and the two men Elaine later came to love in diverse and sometimes disastrous ways. But it is the enigmatic Cordelia, once her tormentor, then her best friend, whose elusive yet powerful presence in her life Elaine finally comes to understand. The realm of childhood and growing up, with its secrecies, cruelties, betrayals, and terrors, has never been so brilliantly evoked. By turns disquieting, humorous, compassionate, haunting and mordant,Cat's Eyeis vintage Atwood., 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.