Timothy of the Cay (The Cay, #2) by Theodore Taylor

Timothy of the Cay (The Cay, #2) Reviews

• 
  Wayne Walker

  Several years ago, we read and I reviewed Theodore Taylor’s earlier novel, The Cay, set in 1942, in which a young white boy, eleven year old Phillip, and an old black man, seventyish Timothy, are stranded for three months on a small sandy cay in the Caribbean Sea following the torpedoing by a German U-boat of the S. S. Hato on which they were sailing. Phillip was blinded by flying debris, and Timothy taught him how to survive before dying. It is a very worthwhile book.
  
  Timothy of the Cay is referred to as a “prequel-sequel” which tells the rest of their tale in alternating chapters. Beginning with Phillip’s rescue, it follows the boy, now twelve, and his parents as they visit doctors who talk of operations which might restore his sight and give him the opportunity of going to view the cay with his own eyes. Also, it goes back to show the early life of Timothy Gumbs and how, as a young man growing up in Back o’ All on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, he desired to became a seaman and eventually captain of his own boat. Did Timothy make his dream a reality? Will Phillip ever see again? And can he achieve his goal of visiting the cay?
  
  In a gentle way, the book deals with the subject of racial prejudice, and it also demonstrates the qualities of courage and tenacity. The “d” word is used a couple of times, unnecessarily so in my estimation, and there is one reference to drinking rum. Some younger readers may find the going back and forth between Phillip and Timothy a little confusing. However, we did this as a family read aloud, and everyone agreed that it was an interesting account. My edition has a “Reader Chat Page” in the back with some thought questions about the story.
• 
  Kevin

  I choose the book "Timothy of the Cay" is because my friend recommended me to read it. Phillip Enright and his mother board the ship to S.S Hato to Virgina because his mom thinks it is unsafe to stay in Curacao. The ship gets torpedoed and Phillip gets blind and ends up staying with a black man named Timothy. Timothy and Phillip end up at a Cay. A few months later on the Cay there is a hurricane. Timothy saves Phillip life and puts his life in danger. Unfortuneately Timothy dies. Phillip gets saved by sailors and gets his vision back. My favaorite quote in the story is "Standing with his back to the storm, Timothy put my arms through the loops of rope, and then roped himself, behind me, to the tree." This quote is my favorite quote in the story because it shows how Timothy is trying to save Phillip's life. The author's writing style is really interesting because the story is being told by Timothy's perspective as an adult. I woud reccomend this book to everyone because not only it's a great book but it also tells readers what true friends are.
• 
  Christy

  I was delighted to find this book at the D.I. It’s a prequel-sequel to The Cay, written 28 years after the original story. In alternating chapters, we read about Timothy’s adventures before the book starts, and Phillip’s adventures afterwards. We already know from The Cay that Phillip eventually regained his eyesight, and that he wanted to visit his island again, so there were no surprises there. From what we learned of Timothy in The Cay, we can guess that his earlier life involved lots of racism on the part of white people, and again, there were no surprises. Jumping back and forth from one character to the other, and from one time frame to the other, was totally jarring. That, along with the lack of suspense, and no plot to speak of, caused me to lose interest fast. I’m sending the book back to the D.I.
• 
  Courtney Niederer

  I loved this one as much as The Cay. This story alternates between Timothy’s life before the Hato bombing and Phillip’s life after he was rescued. The author does such a good job of going back and forth and staying true to both characters. It was so good!
• 
  ★ℕłℂØℓҾ★ (Nix)

  After rereading The Cay recently and loving it, I greatly enjoyed getting to read about Timothy's life and finding out what happened to Phillip after the events of that book.
• 
  John Roadman

  I did enjoy this book. Glad I read them both.
• 
  Nancy

  For fans of The Cay, this prequel tells the story of Timothy who lived on the Virgin Island of St. Thomas. An orphan, he is taken in by a kind woman, and Timothy's dearest wish growing up is to be a ship's captain. However, he endures racism and hardship over the course of his life, and his last journey as a seventy-year-old man will be the sinking of the ship he is on with Phillip that then leads into the original book. Alternating chapters are a sequel of sorts as they show what happened to Phillip after he was rescued. Like the first book, this story is dated, and while it is written to show how racism is wrong, Timothy is written as a "magical negro" used to come to the aid of a white protagonist, which is a disappointing narrative trope.
• 
  Julia

  This was an enjoyable way to sum up a reading experience I began ten years ago. Although Timothy's chapters were a bit slow to read, I enjoyed Phillip's journey to regain his eyesight, and his continued connection with Timothy was beautiful. Ironically, Phillip's diagnosis is one that I myself received ten years ago, and "The Cay" was the first book I had read afterwards. Although I alone share this connection, I do believe that anyone who enjoyed "The Cay" really needs to read this book. Without saying too much, the last pages are simple yet beautiful, meaningful, and powerful. It made me smile!!
• 
  Becky

  This was a great follow up of the first book. I loved how the stories of the two main characters were continued and Timothy's childhood was filled in. Phillipe has to have surgery on his eyes and that is always hard.
• 
  Camryn Plemons

  It was okay, but not nearly as good as the Cay was. In my opinion, The Cay was way better.
• 
  Katja Labonté

  
  4.5 stars & 5/10 hearts. So I’m gonna start with what I DISLIKE about this book. Philip calls Timothy his “guardian angel” and says that he talks to Timothy and Timothy talks back to him. Most times he sounds like he’s just imagining what Timothy would say under the circumstances, or he sees Timothy in his mind & imagines what he would say. A few times he says plainly that Timothy was watching over him or talking to him. Because of the fact that generally it seemed like his own imagination, it didn’t bug me too much. Another thing I disliked was, again, Philip’s mother. Somewhat nicer than in “The Cay” but not much. Finally, there were some mentions of bad spirits & a woman who dealt with them. Some were rather large portions but all could be edited out with no issues.
  Now for the things I liked. First, Philip’s sequel is amazing! And his father was even nicer than in “The Cay”. My favourite storyline, though, was Timothy’s backstory. I loved learning all about his childhood and Hannah Gumbs and his apprenticeship and Jennifer and all the rest of it. I also liked how the topic of slavery & racism was addressed. In short, this is a really good sequel to “The Cay” with some editing.
  
  A Favourite Quote: “‘No rain, no rainbow.’ …
  “I remember [Timothy] also saying, ‘Night bring day.’”
• 
  AMY

  161 pages. This book is a prequel to The Cay and explains the background story of Timothy. The young man he helped save in the ship attack is consulting with doctors and deciding whether or not to have surgery to restore his eyesight. The book has lots of controversial language and tension that is understandable in context of the timing of the story. However, it might not be appropriate for elementary kids today. It would definitely need some discussion as to the times and how the world operated and affected the characters in adverse and other ways. You can definitely see growth in Phillip’s character and this book will haunt a reader for many reasons. I am recommending it is needing to be weeded for elementary level, but it might be beneficial for older kids to read it with a set of books set in WWII for another perspective to history, especially in the Caribbean area. The reading level is about 5-6th grade. Be advised, this one is problematic and tough. Good luck.
• 
  Stephen Mataganog

  A good friend of mine recommended this book to me. I had never heard of it before. I am so very glad she did. Even though it is considered a children's book, it is very detailed and chocked full of history and geography that I knew nothing about. I found myself looking up places, food, plants/trees and more. It made me think. As for the story itself, is a heartfelt tale about inner strength, courage and determination. It follows to different people in two different timelines. Which they did a great job of, so younger ones can easily follow. I highly recommend this book.
  I get that I am a big softy and tear up easy, but if you don't tear up at this tale you may want to see a doctor. LOL.
  Oh, and I found out that this is a prequel to a book called "The Cay". You KNOW I'll be reading that soon!
• 
  Jackie

  Told from alternating perspectives of Timothy of the Cay and young Phillip Enright as they tell of their personal experience both before their life on the Cay (Timothy) and life after being rescued from the Cay (Phillip). Together, they were abandoned on a tiny Cay and they found a way to survive even though one was in his 70s and the other was recently blinded.
  
  Timothy's is a story of prejudice, coming-of-age, work ethics, and love. Phillip's is a story of love for a man who became his guiding light during a frightful difficult time as he is about to go into surgery to correct the problem that leads to his blindness. The lessons learned by both, at different times in their lives, are uplifting.
• 
  David Rough

  3.5 stars.
  
  This sequel to the classic novel, The Cay, was significant for the reader’s understanding of the two major characters of the original story. The novel went to two directions – backward to fill in the story of Timothy before the cay and forward to answer the questions and quest of Phillip after the cay.
  
  For me, I appreciated the original story more than the follow-up. This novel had too much sailing/boating terminology for my limited knowledge of such skills. I think the island dialect would difficult for young readers to work through and some of the thoughts of Timothy might be buried in the difficult pronunciations.
  
  The reader must read the first book in order to make sense of this story.
  
• 
  Krista Mc

  I enjoyed this book. I liked how the author wrote in a thoughtful, measured way--a way that happened to appeal to me! I was empathetic for both Phillip and Timothy and felt their joys and sorrows. The format of the book was interesting, too--one chapter a "prequel" and another a "sequel" to The Cay..I did not feel at all like I as the reader was being jerked around between perspectives. It's too bad there aren't more in the Cay series.
• 
  QuakerMaid

  I think this is an interesting read.
  I liked hearing of Timothy's past.
  I wish they'd have left out the PWM's story, but I guess the author ~being who he was~ saw it necessary to do so. Let's pity the author for this.
  
  I read "The Cay" first. I was really more interested in Timothy that silly Phillip. So imagine how happy I was to learn there WAS a book more about Timothy!
  
  SO now I got both books and I'm going to be selling them as a set.
  
  
• 
  Kimberley

  I like this book, but it's difficult for on-level 6th graders to read by themselves. I read it with a small book club group of boys and girls. They enjoyed it with me there to help pull them along and keep interest up. We had read The Cay, and they asked to read this one because they wanted to know more about Timothy.
• 
  Christie

  This book was as good as the first book. I loved learning about the last and about what Timothy's life was like. I also loved when the book went back to present day Phillip and we learned about his fate. I wish I could have found an audiobook that had the same reader as the first book. I would have enjoyed hearing this book through his voice
• 
  Carrie

  What a gem! Taylor takes his readers back to Timothy's Caribbean roots and Phillip's life after surviving on the cay. Me and my 11 year old loved reading this, it was like checking in with old friends. GREAT READ!
• 
  Richard

  Accurately described as a prequel-sequel to one of favorite childhood books, The Cay, this was a delightful, satisfying book with Phillip and Timothy once again the main characters. It was definitely worth reading.