Of Cats and Men: Stories

by Nina de Gramont and Howard Zinn

Book Overview

Haughty Bengals, faithful Maine coons, and feral strays: These are the haunting familiars that animate Nina de Gramont's superbly imagined debut collection of short fiction. Prowling through every... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385335083
• ISBN13: 9780385335089
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Best Collection of Short Stories I've read in a Long Time

Ms. de Gramont's book is masterfully written in a no-nonsense, very readable style. Only a person who is passionate about writing could create stories that unfold so gracefully. In every story you will find passion that ebbs and flows with tension and resolution, symbolism at every level of the human psyche, adroit dialogue that helps to construct each anecdote, and of course, cats and men. What amazed me most is that from cover to cover you couldn't add, subtract, or change a word to improve the book. "Of Cats and Men" is a combination of dexterity in communication and great storytelling. I will be first in line to buy her next book

Fine, spare stories about young love and cats

I picked up this book on a whim, enticed by the photo of a cute cat on the front cover, and of the cute author on the back. Turns out to be a winner. De Gramont, who appears to be twenty-something, writes spare stories about young love, cats, et la condition humaine -- set in Colorado, New York and Cape Cod, where I'm almost certain the author went to school, lived, and (definitely) lives now. Men, women and cats are all convincingly rendered in appealingly unornamented prose. Her stories have beginnings, middles and ends (hurrah!). There are touches of strange in a couple of her stories, but this is contemporary mimetic fiction, in which I am usually disappointed. So -- if you like good short fiction about young people and cats, give de Gramont a try. Tellingly, all her stories are original to this book, further demonstrating the parlous state of non-genre short fiction. At least two of her stories, were they sfnal, would be Hugo and/or Nebula nominees -- and, judging from my reaction, would interest other short-sf fans... Happy reading-- Peter D. Tillman Post approved by Precious & Joe Grey

The Clash of Love, Karma, Ego, Social Caste x 10!

This was a new experience for me. As a male who likes short stories and has read dozens of anthologies, this book by a woman about men and women made me feel like a voyeur unable to turn his eye away from the keyhole. The author is incredibly skilled and insightful as she takes the reader on 10 very enjoyable rides through periods in a number of lives -- each artfully constructed around romantic relationships (some in crisis) -- and each with the presence of at least one cat. The gemlike stories are so gripping several could turn into screen plays. They are interesting, unpredictable and provocative. The psychological elements reminded one of Ibsen, the social caste clashes brought to mind the fine 18th and 19th -Century English writers, and the romantic entanglements twisted by karma evoked certain French authors. There is no need to describe plots. As soon as you start to read, you will know you are in very competent hands. The cats are important in different ways in different stories. I note that practically all the other reviewers are women, so I felt I should add my voice by saying to male readers, "If you want to know what 'They' are really thinking, read this book!"

So much more than cats and men!!

What a great, sweet book. And about so much more than cats and men!! If you're looking for a book about cats, it's a must-read, but make no mistake, this book appeals equally to non "cat people" like myself (it's not that I don't like them -- I'm allergic). The cats are critical to the work, however, because they allow us to be the fly on the wall we always want to be when reading a great piece of fiction, or in any other way peering into the lives of others and secretly desiring a place at the table (or in this case, in the bed, on the couch, on a driveway in the sun). De Gramont weaves this brilliant literary device around her wonderfully vivid characters and the situations they find themselves in, drawing the reader in so hauntingly deep that the line between fiction and reality starts to blur. I rarely find a book that I enjoy so much. The characters will either become some of your favorite characters in fiction or remind you keenly of some of the genre's most memorable. I want more - more stories, and more of these people's lives. Read this book. We'll be waiting in line together for a copy of De Gramont's next book. It'll be fun.

The Landscape of Relationship & The Nature of the Beast

Nina de Gramont's new book of stories subtly navigates the not so subtle terrain between men and women with feline élan. And while the humans of this book couple and uncouple; rage, reconcile, and make up, the cats do what cats do best----inhabit a world that is wholly their own. Of course inevitable comparisons will arise between the humans and the animals that keep them, but the best stuff really comes from de Gramont's prose which is precise and singing. She has a flare for the fatal last line and for turning a moment suddenly dark, as she does in "the closest place," a story about a newly pregnant woman whose mentally ill brother-in-law has come to visit. In the final scene, the narrator comes closest to the bare, brutal truth in stark articulation that nearly unearths both her and her husband. But don't be fooled, there's comedy among the ruins, a laugh where you least expect it. "One thing nobody tells you about the mentally ill," the narrator of " the closest place" begins, "is how infuriating they are." There's also a hilarious episode in "the politeness of kings" where a soon to be fiancé shambles into his very proper prospective in-laws' bedroom, only to make [a fool] out of himself with the apology the next morning. The image of his hulking mass swaying over the mortified in-laws "wearing nothing but a paisley boxer shorts" is as funny as it is affecting. De Gramont's characters are a soothing mixture of civility and gambol---and this is the crux of their struggle---not what it means to be in relationship, but what it means to be human (or animal, for we all know cats are so much better at manners and propriety than we are) in a world where people try to make order out of death and mental illness and broken hearts. De Gramont's stories remind us that beneath its laced up veneer, love is a messy set compromises, and men and women are as ragged and wind-whipped as the Cape Cod beaches featured in the stories. Incidentally, it's no accident that de Gramont's stories find themselves on the edge of wilderness----from the front range town in the Colorado Rockies to the Cape----these locations evoke the same tension the characters feel: that something in one's nature might turn dark at any moment, that the nature of the beast might very well reveal itself. And in the final story, "Lieutenant Island" de Gramont's themes come home to roost. In it, a young widow returns to Cape Cod and inhabits the wild landscape of her first marriage, a place where she must quite literally give in to the tide, which makes passage to and from her home impossible at certain times of the day and night. Once aligned with the natural world, Tara is free to take up loving again.In the end, de Gramont wants to examine what it means to be human or animal and judging from these stories, her answer lies somewhere in the indecipherable space of loving and desire, that like Lieutenant Island "floated away on a wide, unchangeable sea."This good stuff.