NP - Cat Person

Tue Dec 12 18:42:20 CST 2017

Hey, I lol all the time!

(On Monday I wrote)
I'm halfway through the story now, and finding it uncomfortably familiar in
terms of a mind over-revving re: what other people are thinking.

(Now it's Tuesday)
I just finished the story.

It has good points and bad points.

Good points: It certainly is compelling and propulsive... it carries you
along like a strong river current. And stylistically it's got a certain
"chick lit Hemingway" thing going for it that I kind of dug.

Bad points:

For all its supposed bravery and honesty, I found Margot to be unbelievably
portrayed, almost superhumanly thoughtful and blameless as a Hindu cow -
there were moments when her behavior and thoughts could very easily be
seen/portrayed as cruel, but Roupenian's strategy is always to forgive
Margot by portraying her as flighty and "millennial" and just too darn
thoughtful for her own darn good. Meanwhile, Robert's mid-story
transformation from overgrown Asperger-y nebish into a wannabe porn star,
and his last minute transformation into an obsessive hate-spewing demon, to
be trite and gimmicky and unnecessarily cruel.

Also, why is Ms Perfect Skin-and-Boobs creeping on walking disasters like
the Senor Cat Piss in the first fucking place? It's like the character was
fishing for a sexual horror story as grist for her first year creative
writing course mill or something.

Yeah. No. Upon further reflection, I don't think I like this story very
much at all. And NOT because I subconsciously "see myself in Robert", as
most of the online misandrist cant relating to this story seems to imply as
being the source of any critique of it.

I think if it was any longer than it is, I would be even angrier with it
than I already am, for having wasted my time.

Jerky

On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 11:02 PM, Becky Lindroos <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> Thanks for calling attention to the story,  Mark.     I rather enjoyed it
> and agree with Laura’s comments -  it’s spot-on but I must add that it’s
> spot on from the point of view of probably most women who have dated much
> since high school.   The author is getting inside the head of an immature
> young college girl who is messing with a lonely old man  (old to her).
>
> I’m sure that the same story as written by Jonathan Franzen and from
> Robert’s point of view would be quite different.  "What is with this girl
> who invites herself over to my house…”   and so on.   Robert would be suave
> and gentle and all good things and she would be a weird tease or something.
>
>  And John Bailey,  "- the protagonist's isn't the authorial view, for
> instance, and the moral ambiguities of the piece aren't necessarily a
> fault.”    Yup -  lol  (I can’t help the lol  - I’m a girl.)
>
>
> Becky
> https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com
>
> > On Dec 11, 2017, at 1:01 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > It's made a lot of men (and some women) very angry. It's a short story
> > that's gone viral (the first?) and so opinions are many.
> > As Mark mentioned the other weird thing is that some people are
> > calling it an 'article' or 'essay' rather than fiction, and responding
> > as such. Which is bizarre in itself, but also makes discussing it
> > harder because there's a few Eng Lit 101 things that are skipped over
> > - the protagonist's isn't the authorial view, for instance, and the
> > moral ambiguities of the piece aren't necessarily a fault.
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 6:46 AM, Laura Kelber <laurakelber at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> A very astute, well-written, dead-on accurate rendering of thoughts and
> >> feelings that most women who've dated have experienced, more or less.
> But
> >> that very accuracy renders it less memorable. I gather that men
> experience
> >> this story in a different way?
> >>
> >> Laura
> >>
> >> On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 6:53 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Reminds --in immediate diverse responses, including the will-never-die
> >>> confusion of fiction with non-fiction by many readers--of Shirley
> >>> Jackson's
> >>> New Yorker story, The Lottery.
> >>>
> >>> John is so right about it being some kind of cultural symbol as well
> >>> as a short story. I love 'is shit...
> >>>
> >>> Sent from my iPhone
> >>>
> >>>> On Dec 11, 2017, at 3:07 AM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> If you've heard anything about this New Yorker short story (or if you
> >>>> haven't) it's worth reading now before you develop too many
> >>>> preconceptions. I've never seen a piece of fiction trend on Twitter,
> >>>> inspire memes, and turn social media into a place for passionate
> >>>> literary debate from both pro- and anti- camps. I certainly
> >>>> flip-flopped many times while reading it myself, but I think it's very
> >>>> helpful to go in without knowing what to expect. You'll hear people
> >>>> talking about it soon.
> >>>> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/cat-person
> >>>> -
> >>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> >>> -
> >>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> >>
> >>
> > -
> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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