Cat's Eye

Beautifully understated writing. If you lack an interest in the social construction of gender and have not had experiences which parallel Elaine's then I can appreciate how you may conclude that 'Cat's Eye' is dull. But if you cannot appreciate why others like it I feel the fault is, in this case, your own as opposed to the work's. The fact that some reckon that nothing happens in this book...more

Beautifully understated writing. If you lack an interest in the social construction of gender and have not had experiences which parallel Elaine's then I can appreciate how you may conclude that 'Cat's Eye' is dull. But if you cannot appreciate why others like it I feel the fault is, in this case, your own as opposed to the work's. The fact that some reckon that nothing happens in this book demonstrates the great difficulty there is in proving the physical consequence of the psychological. Again, I feel that this is the fault of those who cannot appreciate subtlety and its power.   hide

Cat’s Eye is a novel centering on two periods of the painter Elaine Risley’s life: her growing up, mostly in the Toronto area and the opening of a retrospective exhibition in Toronto attended by Risley who lives in Vancouver with her second husband. The opening is the framework for Risley’s extensive reminiscences of her early years, her girlfriends, and her early loves. Perhaps Cat’s...more

Cat’s Eye is a novel centering on two periods of the painter Elaine Risley’s life: her growing up, mostly in the Toronto area and the opening of a retrospective exhibition in Toronto attended by Risley who lives in Vancouver with her second husband. The opening is the framework for Risley’s extensive reminiscences of her early years, her girlfriends, and her early loves. Perhaps Cat’s Eye resonates more with girls and women than it does with men. I found its creation of an intimate portrait of a clique of girlfriends interesting, but no more than that. I didn’t find its insights into an artist’s artistic life very profound. Perhaps most interesting is Atwood’s comments on how women artists are treated by their fellow artists, both men and women, and the art community. I found the writing professional, but not thrilling.   hide

Fabulous narrative, gets right in the head of a 1960's teenager.

Superb novel about the physical and emotional effects of bullying.

I remember reading this book when I was younger and just read it again.I think you are either an Atwood fan or you are not. The main character in the book, overcomes a lot of pain and strife.Mostly at the hands of a very cruel little friend.We can all put ourselves back to childhood and the lengths we go for companionship.

I've been reading Ms. Atwood's novels in reverse chronological order (sorta), so this is the first one I've come across of hers that didn't have a futuristic dystopian plotline. It was also somewhat difficult to review; at first I really loved it, then I kinda hated it (a little too picayune and detailed), then I warmed up again to it about mid-way, then I thought "You know, this was a stunning...more

I've been reading Ms. Atwood's novels in reverse chronological order (sorta), so this is the first one I've come across of hers that didn't have a futuristic dystopian plotline. It was also somewhat difficult to review; at first I really loved it, then I kinda hated it (a little too picayune and detailed), then I warmed up again to it about mid-way, then I thought "You know, this was a stunning book". It started out a seemingly creepy coming-of-age story, fraught with ominous foreshadowing, then it kinda fizzled in that regard, but it totally redeemed itself toward the end. Told in the first person, it recounts the events in an fictional artist's life in Toronto that formed her as a person and made her the eminent artist she turned out to be. Quietly stunning.   hide

Every little girl has a sister, who is stronger and smarter than you. Every girl, more or less, has the desperate memory of being bossed around by this sister. Every girl must bear the mark of pain of not being able to get rid of the evil sister in her body unless she can overcome her haunting influence on her own life. That's called Women Politics. That's something only women...more

Every little girl has a sister, who is stronger and smarter than you. Every girl, more or less, has the desperate memory of being bossed around by this sister. Every girl must bear the mark of pain of not being able to get rid of the evil sister in her body unless she can overcome her haunting influence on her own life. That's called Women Politics. That's something only women understand. Brothers and fathers never detect it. Mothers, for some myterious reasons, eschew it. Only the girls of the same age suffer it. Margrit Atwood's Cat's Eyes discloses the myth of women politics to readers. The heroine, Elaine, suffers the haunting influence of her childhoold girlfriend Cordelia. Cordelia is smarter than other girls of her age and bosses girls. Elaine struggles in a mysterious adjusting game in which she is forced to make corrections of her behaviors in terms of the Cordelia's direction. Girls copy the power model among adults. When you read the story, you will retrace your childhood and comtemplate at least one of your friends who owns power over you. You re-experience the very part of your life when you feel whatever you do is evaluated wrong and you desperately discover that you are NEVER smart enough. From the pain and suffering, you understand the solitude is a permanent diease you can never heal; you discover that the darkness disgused by naivety and so-called childhood. Human beings are never innocent. In the second part of the book, Cordelia gradually loses her power over Elaine. Lack of willpower, Cordelia fails her exams and is finally excluded from the school. On the contrary, Elaine gains the power from the early failure during the political confrontations. Step by step, Elaine makes progress to achieve something in her life. However, life is never a stupid melodrama. Still suffering from the desperate experience of being accused of stupidity, Elaine inherits Cordelia's manipulation and deception, fighting with her growing adult identity. She transfers her childish evilness to her life. Love becomes the victim of her weakness. She abandons her first boyfriend, who is seventeen years older than her. She even sleeps with two men at the same time later. of course, a damaged relationship, a divorce, finally solve everything. Like all those famous books, Cat's Eyes tells you the regrettable weakness of humanity. Stupidity is never forgivable or even tolerable while its permanent existence bothers everybody. Evilness is an everlasting attractive beauty which a real touch destorys people. The whole book is authentically brilliant, profound and brainstorming. I simply like all the descriptions about the human weakness and women politics.   hide

Great, felt lived. Took a little time to get into but then got a real grip. unpredictable.

BOOK REVIEW – CAT’S EYE In Cat’s Eye, a novel written by Margaret Atwood, Elaine is both the narrator and the protagonist who recollects her childhood memory. The story is developed through a series of flashbacks between Elaine’s present and past. Many of modern novels, movies, and even dramas use this device in order to receive more attention, but this novel seems to have an opposite...more

BOOK REVIEW – CAT’S EYE In Cat’s Eye, a novel written by Margaret Atwood, Elaine is both the narrator and the protagonist who recollects her childhood memory. The story is developed through a series of flashbacks between Elaine’s present and past. Many of modern novels, movies, and even dramas use this device in order to receive more attention, but this novel seems to have an opposite effect. The transitions are vague throughout the whole novel, making the readers harder to understand the plot. I had difficulty starting the novel due to variety of reasons. The story starts with Elaine’s description of her feelings toward the childhood memory. I personally found the language of it very challenging and abstruse. Moreover, there is not much detail in nearly the first half of the fiction. For some reason, Atwood uses more than two hundred pages in order to describe what is worth in only fifty pages. The story starts to become interesting after the first half of the novel. This is when Elaine starts to become a stronger individual and independent of her previous friends: Cordelia, Carol, and Grace. From then, Elaine essentially stands out of the novel as the main character and the conflict between Cordelia and Elaine becomes fundamental to the plot. I would even boldly suggest other readers to read the second half of the novel prior to the first half of it. Overall, I cannot genuinely deny the excellence of Atwood’s writing skills, but I don’t think she meant to address a whole wide range of audience. Although the plot was very interesting, I found the overall atmosphere extremely tedious. The first-person narration provided a somewhat autobiographical tone to the novel. Even if you just skim through few pages, you can find that there is not much dialogue going on. In addition, while reading, I found the novel to be essentially upon feminine readers. Since the story is in a viewpoint from a group of teenage girls, such feminine subjects as breasts, periods, jealousy and competition between boys, and abortion matter to the plot development. Women are more likely to be in sympathy with the fiction.   hide