Sorry, no cat fic
*THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE HOUSE OF THIRTY CATS, (C) 1965*
Sorry, House of Thirty Cats, in the end I wasn't inspired to write any fic for you. After finishing it tonight, I've thought a lot about what so enchanted me as a kid, since it rambles a lot (mostly about cats and their particular behaviors), introduces a mystery it barely solves, and promotes highly questionable values in some ways.
Yes, I had a fascination for cats at that age, wanting them to be as adorable and noble and glorious as they are presented to be in the book (yet, especially during the very charming cat-POV section, it actually portrays them quite realistically). (Having a rather bratty, violent cat killed that hope presently, alas.)
So yeah, any kid will probably enjoy the animal stuff. But really, I think it's how admirably accurately the author describes the world and human interaction. I read voraciously at that age, willing and eager to read just about anything, but there are lines kids' books just don't cross, so I was floored when a cat actually died--quite realistically. It's not the last cat to die in the book, either. I probably also greatly related to how things never quite went right (though still more often in the book than in reality); I couldn't connect to this magical fantasy world I read about and saw on t.v. where everyone always got along and everything always worked out right.
The author also touches on kinds of success at fixing what's wrong with the world that was extremely appealing to me at that age, as I was ever trying to do just that, and of course failing utterly. Aaaand ... yeah, the way it works out in the book isn't realistic, but given how realistic the rest of it is, I imagine I thought maybe I could make it work myself if I could just figure out the trick. So anyway, bottom line: cute, wobbly children's book that's barely for children
Thanks, author, for writing that book that meant so much to child!me.
Sorry, House of Thirty Cats, in the end I wasn't inspired to write any fic for you. After finishing it tonight, I've thought a lot about what so enchanted me as a kid, since it rambles a lot (mostly about cats and their particular behaviors), introduces a mystery it barely solves, and promotes highly questionable values in some ways.
Yes, I had a fascination for cats at that age, wanting them to be as adorable and noble and glorious as they are presented to be in the book (yet, especially during the very charming cat-POV section, it actually portrays them quite realistically). (Having a rather bratty, violent cat killed that hope presently, alas.)
So yeah, any kid will probably enjoy the animal stuff. But really, I think it's how admirably accurately the author describes the world and human interaction. I read voraciously at that age, willing and eager to read just about anything, but there are lines kids' books just don't cross, so I was floored when a cat actually died--quite realistically. It's not the last cat to die in the book, either. I probably also greatly related to how things never quite went right (though still more often in the book than in reality); I couldn't connect to this magical fantasy world I read about and saw on t.v. where everyone always got along and everything always worked out right.
The author also touches on kinds of success at fixing what's wrong with the world that was extremely appealing to me at that age, as I was ever trying to do just that, and of course failing utterly. Aaaand ... yeah, the way it works out in the book isn't realistic, but given how realistic the rest of it is, I imagine I thought maybe I could make it work myself if I could just figure out the trick. So anyway, bottom line: cute, wobbly children's book that's barely for children
Thanks, author, for writing that book that meant so much to child!me.