Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1995), Paperback, 160 pages
Description
In these two superb stories of the politics of love, Colette is at her witty, instinctive best. Gigi is being educated in the skills of the Courtesan: to choose cigars, to eat lobster, to enter a world where a woman's chief weapon is her body. However, when it comes to the question of Gaston Lachaille, very rich and very bored, Gigi does not want to obey the rules. In 'The Cat', a wonderful story of burgeoning sexuality and blossoming love, an exquisite strong-minded Russian Blue is struggling for mastery of Alain with his seductive fiancee, Camille.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Two short stories, 'Gigi', the book of the musical, and 'The Cat', about a newly married man who wants to keep the two females in his life separate. Colette expertly condenses psychology and sensation into the briefest space, studying personalities and relationships through wonderful characters and
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dialogue; I love Aunt Alicia in 'Gigi' ("Go on eating while you answer my question, but don't talk with your mouth full"), and was glad to find that the play/film version maintains the spirit of the writing amidst the padding and songs. Alain, Camille - and Saha - are harder to warm to in 'The Cat', but it is easy enough to identify with their feelings: Camille's building jealousy, and Alain's fear of change. An excellent introduction to Colette's style and esprit! Show Less
LibraryThing member m.a.harding
Small. But perfect. Avoid the danger of nostalgia.
LibraryThing member MaowangVater
In Gigi, a poor almost-sixteen-year-old girl accepts the proposal from a millionaire in spite the best efforts of her grandmother and great aunt to groom her for just such a good match to improve the family finances. This romantic comedy pits the fastidious decorum of the elder generation against
La Chatte, originally published eleven years earlier, is a detailed and scathing portrait of a short marriage that would be better to have never taken place. A week before the nuptial the reader is introduced to the immature couple the energetic Camille and her intended Alain, who in the first few pages is assessing Camille’s characteristics as a “typical modern girl” who likes to drive roadsters. She drives well, but a bit too fast. She has no problem deceiving her parent to slip out for their romantic encounters. He thinks “dispassionately” she’s pretty “because not one of her features is ugly” and he likes her assertively amorous ways. “He was also perfectly aware that she could be as violent and capricious as a mountain stream.”
Alain himself, is a wealthy, spoiled, only child, who much prefers his boyhood home, a mansion with beautiful grounds, and his cat, a pure-bred Russian Blue. In fact, he prefers leisurely hanging around his childhood haunts and the company of his cat named Saha, the cat of the book’s title, to running about at a frantic pace with Camille. The incompatibility of the two in all matters except their sexual relations is a recipe for disaster which Colette describes in exquisite detail. The author meticulously pays attention to the touch, smell, color, sound, sight, light, taste, texture, of everything her characters encounter, reflect upon, and feel. Reading her work is like a close examination of a painting by a master.
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the teen's impetuous impulses and youthful spirit of self-determination. Ironically, these are the very characteristics that appeal to her wealthy suitor. La Chatte, originally published eleven years earlier, is a detailed and scathing portrait of a short marriage that would be better to have never taken place. A week before the nuptial the reader is introduced to the immature couple the energetic Camille and her intended Alain, who in the first few pages is assessing Camille’s characteristics as a “typical modern girl” who likes to drive roadsters. She drives well, but a bit too fast. She has no problem deceiving her parent to slip out for their romantic encounters. He thinks “dispassionately” she’s pretty “because not one of her features is ugly” and he likes her assertively amorous ways. “He was also perfectly aware that she could be as violent and capricious as a mountain stream.”
Alain himself, is a wealthy, spoiled, only child, who much prefers his boyhood home, a mansion with beautiful grounds, and his cat, a pure-bred Russian Blue. In fact, he prefers leisurely hanging around his childhood haunts and the company of his cat named Saha, the cat of the book’s title, to running about at a frantic pace with Camille. The incompatibility of the two in all matters except their sexual relations is a recipe for disaster which Colette describes in exquisite detail. The author meticulously pays attention to the touch, smell, color, sound, sight, light, taste, texture, of everything her characters encounter, reflect upon, and feel. Reading her work is like a close examination of a painting by a master.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I was surprised to find such an enjoyable pair of short stories here - especially since with a title like 'The Cat', I had feared the worst.
LibraryThing member lucybrown
I wanted Madeleine to read Gigi, But it had been years since I read it so I decided to re-read it, something I rarely do. I first read the novella when I was about sixteen, Gigi's age. Before reading it I read rather indiscriminately, after Gigi...well I was ruined for schlock. I love Colette's
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pure prose, her ability to capture a personality with a few pen strokes. With this re-reading I found it is just as charming, maybe even more so, than I remember it. Show Less
LibraryThing member lucybrown
I wanted Madeleine to read Gigi, But it had been years since I read it so I decided to re-read it, something I rarely do. I first read the novella when I was about sixteen, Gigi's age. Before reading it I read rather indiscriminately, after Gigi...well I was ruined for schlock. I love Colette's
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pure prose, her ability to capture a personality with a few pen strokes. With this re-reading I found it is just as charming, maybe even more so, than I remember it. Show Less
LibraryThing member toongirl81
Although the writing is lively and succinct in both stories, I had a hard time with Colette's coquettish women and indulged men. No doubt some of my distaste can be attributed to a difference in era and culture between myself and the author. However, the assumption of a fundamental gulf between
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women and men I found a bit trite, and neither story turned out to be particularly memorable in the end. Not for me, I'm afraid. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kaethe
My daughter will be appearing in Gigi this spring, if winter ever leaves us, so I thought I'd read it. Meh. Based on these two stories, I feel towards Colette what I feel towards Wharton: indifference and a little boredom. Sure, yes, turn-of-the-twentieth-century romantic pairings were hard due to
That the newlyweds in The Cat are so miserable is no surprise. But if the publishers were looking for a cheap image to slap on the cover, couldn't they at least have found one of a Russian Blue, which is what the cat in the story is?
Library copy
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the tremendous inequality of the sexes and the awkward courtship customs of the time. But even knowing the financial importance to an entire family, I just can't feel that teenage student Gigi seducing a wealthy man twice her age is a happy ending. Let alone pretending it is a bit of cleverness on her part. The idea makes my skin crawl. Certainly it doesn't feel like comedy to me.That the newlyweds in The Cat are so miserable is no surprise. But if the publishers were looking for a cheap image to slap on the cover, couldn't they at least have found one of a Russian Blue, which is what the cat in the story is?
Library copy
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LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq
Well, this is nothing like the movie avec Leslie Caron et Louis Jordan....
Gigi, 15 going on a very immature 16, is raised by her grandmother and her Aunt, they are grooming her to be a a mistress to Society Men.
Tonton/Gaston Lachaille, a family friend, who has grown very bored of his high society
Gaston falls in love with Gigi, who throws a fit when she finds out she is to go live with Gaston.....
Pffft!
Gigi, 15 going on a very immature 16, is raised by her grandmother and her Aunt, they are grooming her to be a a mistress to Society Men.
Tonton/Gaston Lachaille, a family friend, who has grown very bored of his high society
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existence & the antics of his current mistress often visits Gigi & her grandmother. They share card games, light meals & drinks.Gaston falls in love with Gigi, who throws a fit when she finds out she is to go live with Gaston.....
Pffft!
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LibraryThing member reader1009
Adult fiction. This title was suggested to me by goodreads; I thought it might make for an interesting bookclub read but have no desire to revisit it. I read gigi and skimmed through "the Cat"--the back cover says that they are both love stories but it means tragic romance. 15 1/2-year old Gigi's
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mother, grandma and aunt are pushing her into the family tradition of courtesanship, though she clearly isn't ready to; in the end she relents. In the Cat, a woman's jealousy over her husband's beloved cat causes her to try to kill the animal (it miraculously survives the 9-story fall) and thus ends their imperfect marriage. Show Less
LibraryThing member NaggedMan
Gigi (at fifty pages) is more short story than novel, a remarkably unvarnished account of a (very) young girl's life, views and behaviours, especially when written by a woman in 1940s France. The Cat, on the other hand, published in 1933, is the exceptionally deep account of a man's strange
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engagement with his cat, as he and the cat move in (and quite rapidly out of) marriage. Colette's early work was published in his own name (and to his considerable profit) by her abusive husband. Her escape and emergence as a writer of such innovative work is cause for celebration. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dabble58
Fun to read Gigi after seeing the movie. The grooming of the young Gigi for her life as a courtesan is a bit more heartless here than in the singing version, and it does make you wonder why this play is performed in so many high schools....
The cat is a strange story of a self-absorbed man who loves
The cat is a strange story of a self-absorbed man who loves
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his cat over anyone else, in a distinctly unhealthy manner. Wonderful but it does give you the feeling you need to wash your hands afterwards. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
The Cat (La Chatte) (1933)
Gigi (1944)
Physical description
160 p.; 7.7 inches
ISBN
0140183191 / 9780140183191