cat person

i can't be the only one thinking of an anthology called cat people

^^ Yeah.

I'm surprised this story got so much traction. It's good but it's hardly a story with a unique theme. Is it #metoo that pushed it to the fore this much?

xp you certainly are not

virality is a mystery to all

somewhere philip roth is very angry

haha

liver person

believability is overrated anyway

careful you don't accidentally criticise the story.

wld be kinda fun if (so not gonna happen) were entering an age of super punchy topical viral short stories that enrage hardcore fans of the form

would be fun to see how bad a story can get before people stop praising it because it's morally correct.

hehe

writing decent short-form non-genre fiction competently is difficult

I'm also very happy there's a fiction piece in the New Yorker someone's sharing that isn't Borowitz

I'm surprised this story got so much traction. It's good but it's hardly a story with a unique theme. Is it #metoo that pushed it to the fore this much?

― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, December 12, 2017 3:06 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think so?

I read it yesterday and I really don't get why this is getting so much attention at all.

It's a fine story but I wasn't blown away by anything about it thematically or stylistically.

I'm also very happy there's a fiction piece in the New Yorker someone's sharing that isn't Borowitz

― mh, Tuesday, December 12, 2017 1:42 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fucken amen

yah i dunno i liked the story, i'm not sure there's much behind its gaining traction other than lots of ppl finding it super relatable

checkmark twitter: this is about the unnavigable contours of toxic masculinity and consent

me: https://t.co/gAkoNwLWFF

— Tamara (@_TamaraWinter) December 12, 2017

x-post Wish I could say it wasn't but it is definitely that.

i rarely -- if ever -- enjoy reading fiction that i identify with personally. i enjoy reading fiction in part to gather what it's like to be someone who is NOT me. this story -- i think i enjoyed it going viral because other people were reading about an experience that maybe THEY hadn't had the dubious distinction of having, but i had. so seeing other people read and talk about the story is more enjoyable than having read it myself. i know about cat people; it's interesting to watch other people become acquainted with them. (while i am actuallying and being pretentious, i have seen 5 val lewton movies!)

imo its ok for a story to just be relatable and is an accomplishment in its own right, its not personally what im into as far as fiction but its fine and good i think

i want short stories to become the new listicles, if u think abt it its not too far from the personal essay genre that was big online a minute ago

I guess this just seems like such a common experience to me that I find it hard to believe that there are people who don't know about cat people? Good points though, LL.

a lot of people don't have particularly nuanced views and reading a story about a situation that sits mostly in shades of grey, where you're not quite sure if it's just a really mediocre experience or a bad one, isn't something they seek out

if this was a film one of the characters would be comically bad by the end or someone would have to get murdered in the background to spice it up

This is a "your terrible ideas" post but I kinda want to start a twitter account called "cats react to cat people" that's just like "meow purr so relatable meow"

Oops I mean cat PERSON obv I got confused with all the lewton talk

The two or three things I felt when I re-read this piece today:

- The focus on the minute details (of their texting conversations, of Robert's body) gave this story a kind of confessional quality that made it feel more autobiographical than fictional, so I get why people called it a "piece" or "article" instead of a "short story".

- The crux of the situation that I feel a lot of people are missing is that Margot was 20 (and thus underage in the USA) and the fact that a 34-year old was drinking with her, and subsequently having sex with her, makes this situation at the very least, on paper, predatory. A further detail to support this idea is that toward the end of the story, it's revealed that Margot had told many people about what had happened (she was traumatized), and her friends are protecting her like Secret Service agents (she was traumatized).

- The focus of the 34-year old being a badkisser and a badfucker is important insofar as it suggests that Robert was unable to hold down a relationship with somebody his own age. His focus on Margot's perceived lack-of-experience (and then accusing her of sleeping with Albert at the end) made me think that he had, at least, subconsciously felt the real effects of his badkissing and badfucking and sought (again, subconsciously) to have a relationship with somebody who's lack of sexual/romantic experience would give them less of a basis of comparison to judge his sloppy lovemaking.

I was surprised to see the reaction to it. It was well written and precise (although I didn't particularly like it) but people have always loved overidentifying with fiction tbf.

I didn't find the ending a surprise/shock/etc at all? There are so many indications that this isn't a guy who'll take rejection well. The various little warning signs - cats/not cats, the little comments digging at her because she mocked the film suggestion, her sense that she should be self-deprecating/apologetic - reminded me of people I've known where they're not quite believable and you can never feel easy around them. It was probably the thing I liked most in the story, that feeling of unease where you're unsure but trying to convince yourself otherwise. 100% agree with what in orbit said upthread that Margot's instincts were on the money.

Have to say that my personal favourite in recent years from the NYer was this Lesley Nneka Arimah piece.

apparently the author has an active account over on metafilter and admitted as such via a sock account she made to respond to the post about the story

https://www.metafilter.com/171090/Margot-met-Robert-on-a-Wednesday-night#7258782

I'm not especially active on that site these days, but I know a few people around here are

imo its ok for a story to just be relatable and is an accomplishment in its own right, its not personally what im into as far as fiction but its fine and good i think

― lag∞n, Tuesday, December 12, 2017 4:03 PM (fifty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this kind of makes me wonder what reactions would be like if this had been presented as a "young adult short story" rather than a "new yorker short story"

I judge this short story to be beyond criticism (sees how everyone is impressed, goes one stage further). In fact, I judge ALL short stories to be beyond criticism, and we should never stop praising them.

Fwiw the industry self-definition of YA is for ages 11-17 so even Margot overshoots by at least several years if not a decade.

I love that Arimah story, it's my favorite out of her collection.

xp

My Short Story About Cat Person

I read Cat Person and didn't really like it. xyzzzz__ is a silly boy. The End

the funny thing is the new yorkers short stories are often bad, much worse than cat person, often bad fake deep stories abt young ppl sex with a literate gloss on top and everyone just ignores them

ALL short stories are perfect, including ones by Jean Rhys.

Maybe instead of an ILX poetry competition we should have a short story competition. All entries sent to a pollrunner and posted anonymously kinda thing

uhh that sounds p fun

the funny thing is the new yorkers short stories are often bad, much worse than cat person, often bad fake deep stories abt young ppl sex with a literate gloss on top and everyone just ignores them

i was gonna say this earlier, god some of them are fucking shit. just terrible whimsical post-modern rubbish with a few refs to phones and instagram hammered in now and again.

when i listen to the fiction podcast it kinda boggles the mind some of the absolutely barnstorming incredible stories they've published and how weak and ephemeral some of what they publish now feels in comparison. i like naturalism so i liked this story more than most of the usual stuff but still was only really okay for me.

I really liked Cat Person btw, I had just read an Ottessa Moshfegh NYer story (on an ILB recommendation), and this was more engaging and focused despite being much longer.

something slightly depresso about the typical lifespan of a phone-based relationship pretty exactly matching the scale and scope demanded by the short story format

love too enjoy the discourse
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/item/d0ef8a0d-82c6-4df7-acb4-8688b514cd32

^a BBC response to cat person from robert's perspective

the mind boggles. what were the BBC thinking publishing that? a horrible piece of writing, in all senses

oh those sweet, sweet clicks. as sweet as orgasm chemicals

i would place money on that article being down by this time tomorrow

ha thats one of those pieces that from the first sentence provokes a wtf is this responce

jesus christ almighty

no doubt, so here's a pastebin
https://pastebin.com/SC8x1yJg

someone should have to put their name at the bottom of that crime

Epic trolling

what of the dog person

ha thats one of those pieces that from the first sentence provokes a wtf is this responce

― lag∞n, Tuesday, December 12, 2017 6:16 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ive thought abt it and come to the conclusion its fanfic

“Cat Person” shook me. It made me uncomfortable. It angered me and it made me sad. I saw Robert as a pathetic oaf from the get-go. Why was he by himself at the movies in the first place? He reeked of self-loathing and insecurity. I’ve been told, though I don’t agree, that there always seems to be someone with the “power” in any relationship. I think society has made me believe that the younger, more beautiful counterpart, who can easily go and find someone else, would be the individual with the power, and therefore, the control in a relationship. Especially when the counterpart is so clearly insecure and jealous. “Cat Person” made me realize this is not the case. That there is another power dynamic that exists, which is much less tangible, but drastically more powerful. There was this moment of absolute sickness when I felt how Margot had essentially withdrawn her consent to move forward in her mind, but went ahead anyways, because of this pressure she felt from Robert and the concern for what he would think if she stopped short. It was illuminating and absolutely sickening to me. I hate Robert and deeply hope that I’m not him, but I think we — men — all are. — Zachary, 30, product manager

https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/8-men-on-seeing-themselves-in-cat-person.html

people attending a movie at an art house theater alone? so weird