Cat's Eye

Margaret Atwood

Language: English

Publisher: Anchor

Published: Sep 1, 1988

Description:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of  *The Handmaid's Tale*

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 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 form her haunting memories. Disturbing, humorous, and compassionate—and a finalist for the Booker Prize— Cat’s Eye is a breathtaking novel of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life. **

From Publishers Weekly

Atwood writes in an autobiographical vein about a middle-aged Canadian painter who is thrust into an extended reconsideration of her past, including one particularly strange friendship, while attending a retrospective of her work in Toronto. PW praised Atwood's incisiveness, saying that she "takes the measure of a coercive, conformist society."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- When Elaine Risley returns to her hometown, Toronto, for a retrospective show of her paintings, she finds more than critical acclaim. Local streets, long-gone landmarks, and elements in the paintings themselves trigger memories of her transient childhood traveling across Canada with her entomologist father; of adolescence marred by the cruel teasing of three friends; and of love affairs with her first art teacher and mentor, and with Jon, her first husband. In addition, Elaine is haunted by thoughts of her chief tormentor/best friend, Cordelia, whom she last saw years ago in a mental institution. Atwood's focus on the inner landscape of Elaine's youth and early adult years will appeal to older teenagers.
- Alice Conlon, University of Houston
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.