NP - Cat Person

Tue Dec 12 22:45:31 CST 2017

Everything you say about the female protagonist is why it is a f'in good
story.....

On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 7:42 PM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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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