Cat's Eye (1988) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Elaine Risley: The protagonist.
• Cordelia: Elaine's domineering childhood friend.
• Stephen Risley: Elaine's older brother.
• Mrs. Smeath: Grace's mother; the inspiration for many of Elaine's paintings
• Jon: Elaine's first husband
• Stephen: Add a description of this character.
• Sarah and Anne: Elaine's daughters
• Mr. Hrbik: Life Drawing teacher at the Toronto College of Art
• Mr. Banerji
• Miss Lumley: Elaine's primary school teacher
• Jody: Sculptor friend of Elaine
• Mrs. Finestein: Jewish neighbor to the Risleys
• Virgin Mary
• Mildred
• Brian Finestein: Jewish baby that Elaine cares for for a while.
• Charna
• Eaton
• Babs
• Marjorie
• Susie: Josef's other lover
• Mummie
• Ben: Artist husband of Elaine
• Carol Campbell: Elaine's childhood friend at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help
• Miranda (Mirrie) & Perdita (Perdie): Cordelia's two older sisters

Quotes edit see section history

• “Most mothers worry when their daughters reach adolescence, but I was the opposite. I relaxed, I sighed with relief. Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• “We are silent, considering shortfalls. There's not much time left, for us to become what we once intended. Jon had potential, but it's not a word that can be used comfortably any more. Potential has a shelf life.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• “Boys don't smell the same as girls. They have a pungent, leathery, underneath smell, like old rope, like damp dogs.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• “... aging begins at he elbows and metastasizes.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• “Forgiving men is so much easier than forgiving women.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• “I slink to the drugstore with some pee in a bottle, feeling like a criminal. Married women go to their doctors. Unmarried women do this.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• “We remember through smells, as dogs do.”

  Elaine Risley, narrator

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• This is the middle of my life. I think of it as a place, like the middle of a river, the middle of a bridge, halfway across, halfway over. I’m supposed to have accumulated things by now: possessions, responsibilities, achievements, experience and wisdom. I’m supposed to be a person of substance.

  Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers

• This goes along with another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.

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• What we share, Jon and I, may be a lot like a traffic accident, but we do share it. We are survivors, of each other.

  Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers

• The good thing about being out of fashion is that you’re never in fashion either, so you can never be last year’s model.

  Highlighted by 7 Kindle customers

• Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.

  Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers

• Hatred would have been easier. With hatred, I would have known what to do. Hatred is clear, metallic, one-handed, unwavering; unlike love.

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• I want some friends, friends who will be girls. Girl friends. I know that these exist, having read about them in books, but I’ve never had any girl friends because I’ve never been in one place long enough.

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• So I am left to the girls, real girls at last, in the flesh. But I’m not used to girls, or familiar with their customs. I feel awkward around them, I don’t know what to say. I know the unspoken rules of boys, but with girls I sense that I am always on the verge of some unforeseen, calamitous blunder.

  Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers

• Vancouver is the suicide capital of the country. You keep going west until you run out. You come to the edge. Then you fall off.

  Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers

• It doesn’t pay to know too many of these things; eventually there’s nothing you can put into your mouth without tasting the death in it.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Toronto
• England
• Mexico
• India
• New York
• Heaven
• Vancouver
• Happy Gang

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Cat's Eye marble: Symbol of how each individual sees the world through his/her own perspective.
• Bridge over the ravine: Describe this theme.
• Virgin Mary

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Book of Evidence, and followed by Foucault's Pendulum.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Margaret Atwood (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Governor General's Literary Awards (Finalist, 1988: Fiction)
• Man Booker Prize (Finalist, 1989, Shortlist)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR9199.3.A8 C38
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( A ) › Atwood, Margaret
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

More Books Like This edit see section history