Customer Reviews

Big Cats: Stories

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I loved the cover featuring a leopard half body shaped in female curves and coupled with the author's lovely name, this was indeed a tempting book which delivered its hidden promise.
This collection of short stories deals with outbursts of emotions. Feelings that have been bottled up under the surface and find a moment to explode, in many different ways. Reinhorn describes a host of characters, each one is a whole entity, a round character full of different angels and many inner wounds. The stories are all disturbing in this way or another and each one can be dealt with and analyzed in detail. This, by the way, is some of my frustration with such a rich book of short stories. Each story is a world of its own. I felt it is hard to read more then one story in a sitting as they are so strong, vivid and full.
In "F--- you", a woman in some kind of personal distress that is only hinted upon picks a young boy of the road, acting, as "she should" in normal motherly situations. But somehow, although her behavior starts as seemingly appropriate, the situation turns to be awkward when she finds herself outbursting in front of this boy in her back yard pool. She now has an audience to turn her frustrations against. Although the woman does not do anything really harmful, we feel her behavior deteriorating and her way of speech seems totally out of place. This story is quite uncomfortable to the reader as many of the "not do" rules of conduct are broken and you get a picture of a woman on the edge.
"Big Cats" gives us a minute-by-minute detail of an escalation of the relationship between two teenaged girls. As the story develops we learn that each one has her reasons to team up with the other. One needs the audience and the other is drawn to the (seeming) strength the other is projecting. Once the roles seem to slightly change, hell breaks loose and they end up in a catfight in front of the lion's cage. Here is a moment of revelation for one of the girls, the narrator.
Another story, "Heights", is a story of a young woman living with her flirtatious mother and a stroke-ridden father. A very heavy feeling clings to this story, same as the two former stories; something, is clearly not right. This is not a regular, "cultured" behavior. The situation spread in front of our eyes is very disturbing, and reaches a climax again, with an outburst.
"White Dog" is the story of a woman knowing the days of her white dog are numbered. The story describes the role of the white dog in her life in what we understand to be a replacement of a child, and maybe even a replacement of a real connection with a male partner. I understand this as a story of alienation - there are hardly any names in the story. We have the woman, the white dog, the photographer or ex husband - only the Japanese drummer is sometimes referred to as "Ohici" and the fact that he receives a name can be further analyzed. It seems that the woman is sufficient directing all her love to the dog and therefore does not need to build any real relationship. The reader cannot understand what went wrong with Ohici or with her ex husband as they seem close even today, and the waste of it all is quite hard to take.
However I guess that the story I liked best in this collection is "By the time you get this" since the outburst of emotions in this story is so touching it can not leave you indifferent. Although told by a grieving mother, mourning and analyzing herself and the death of her daughter, the story is really about her connection with her maid, Lydia who is the center of the story. The maid is the real link to the dead daughter and parting with her will be parting again from the girl. The bond between the narrator and her maid is described slowly. From the beginning we understand that this is not a regular maid and that parts have been slightly changed here. The maid is the one who is in charge and she is the one who understands that she must end the unhealthy connection with her boss. The love of the narrator to Lydia and her son and their importance in her life is the center of this story and I found it to be special in many ways. The narrator is a very educated woman, whereas Lydia is a very simple person. However, the narrator finds herself drawn to Lydia's world and lets her lead the way, at least for a while.
The stories depict all of modern age problems and difficulties. They deal with people of different places and status, all suffering from very deep wounds. The stories are told with a loving eye for all people and all of human flaws.
My only comment would be that these are not always people that are easy to identify with and usually, I , as a reader, look for characters who are closer to myself or characters that are able to evoke some kind of sympathy or identification. Most of Reinhorn characters are not like that. Reinhorn deals with people who are on the extreme and most of our lives are really in between, not high and not low. All endings do not give a solution but sort of encapsulate a certain situation. On the other hand there is nothing soapy or unreal here, as painful as the stories are.

Don't be misled by the cover of this marvelous book, as one cranky reader was. Big Cats is no kittenish collection; it's a sly, stealthy, mordant, ferocious beast - and not for the faint of heart (though I expect even girlie lit fans with open minds and appetites for the rare will appreciate it).

Reinhorn's work has garnered praise from some of America's finest contemporary writers, including Pulitzer-winner Marilynne Robinson - and it's well deserved. Her stories dwell thoughtfully, relentlessly, with great care and quiet mercy, on outcasts and misfits, men and women on the verge and in the midst, at crucible moments of decision and transformation - minute dramas handled with subtlety and generosity, rendered in elegant, engergetic prose.

Readers of contemporary literary fiction are sure to admire Reinhorn's debut, and look forward to her next books.

Every once in a while a nugget of gold crops up in the short story collections published each year. My gold nugget is Big Cats by Holiday Reinhorn.

Reinhorn writes simply delicious dramas of "real life" and "real people" who are full-bodied, rich, multi-dimensional complex beings with complex stories. It is her talent that makes the complex, simple. She alternates between humor, sadness, poignancy and tenderness in a way that shouts out that she has developed her voice and speaks it with strength and commitment. I love the way her writing seeps into my consciousness and makes me live what she writes. Each story has its own drama to breathe life into the story, capturing its soul.

The title story, "Big Cats," of this collection is about two young girls who work at a zoo. They fight, attempting to be the "big cats" they aren't as yet. The author fixes her sights on the girls' minds and captures their spirit.

I love "My Name"! It is the story of a Vietnam vet who's lived in his own prison, so he understands and emphasizes with the catatonic woman he cares for and who calls him by her son's name. Though brief it is the connection the lonely man yearns for and is expressed with absolute tenderness.

Some years ago Reinhorn wrote the screenplay for the film Last Seen. Being familiar with the film it was wonderful to read the story that birthed it. It is about the mysterious disappearance of high school senior Jennifer Langsam.

Read the rest of Reinhorn's collection yourself. I don't want to give anything away. Read it and savor the flavors of life.

Big Cats is one of the most genuinely enjoyable collections of short stories I've encountered in a long time. It's... well... fun! I picked up a copy at random and found myself hooked. These are not "difficult" stories by any means, but neither are they anything close to "chick lit" (as the cover might suggest). Instead they are intriguing, thoughtful and surprisingly original. For example, "Charlotte", the opening story in which a girl with a broken pelvis spies on her neighbors has echoes of everything from "Rear Window" to "White Oleander" and yet it functions entirely on its own. The stories have remarkable structure and the action never digresses into rambling interior monologues. Thus a reader is well able to devour one in a short sitting.

Reinhart has a knack for voice and characterization in that all her characters, from young girls (for example, the titular and final tales) to Vietnam Vets ("My Name") to lonely, estranged women ("The White Dog" or "F--- You") resonate with the easer. Reinhorn manages to craft fascinatingly believable characters. In fact, I often found myself wanting to hear more about certain people. Perhaps some of these stories could become seeds for future novels, Ms. Reinhorn?

Perhaps the most striking thing about all these stories is the often startling realism both in terms of dialogue and descriptions. There is a degree clarity that renders reading these tales is a bit like watching short films in an art house theatre. You can almost cast and direct them in your head! That being said, each of these stories easily stands on its own as an engrossing tale of likable characters. It's more than a "summer read", but it really is a book to enjoy.

Sometimes you experience quality that is so powerful it uplifts your spirit out of the mundane into another reality that contains magic. This is Ms. Reinhorn's gift. She gently invites you into the interior of her characters and then she honors both of you with intelligence, pathos and uniqueness. I felt richer after each story. She has spoiled me from reading other authors for awhile because now they seem a little heavy handed after absorbing BIG CATS.

The stories in Big Cats are few of the most fun, entertaining ones I have read in quite a while. They have an irresistible mixture of dry humor and earnest storytelling. The best part of all is that neither the author nor her work of short fiction comes across as pretentious or contrived. Holiday Reinhorn writes with an unique voice that keeps you turning the pages. The characters in this collection are quirky and struck me as lonely and with very mundane, human qualities that make them all the more compelling. They are not perfect, but they are wonderfully readable nevertheless. My favorite stories are "Get Away from Me, David," "F--- You," "White Dog," and "My Name." If you're a big fan of short fiction, Big Cats is one short-story collection that you'd want to read. I cannot recommend this gem enough.

I found Ms. Reinhorn's book to be voraciously satisfying! Her characters are original, refreshing, and often times laugh out loud bawdy. She has the ability to write in such a wide variety of narratives that you find yourself flipping to her photo on the back cover to check that she is, indeed, just the one person. There were a few stories in particular, ("Charlotte" above all others) that I mourned the completion of, and I look forward to a full length novel from this thrilling author! I highly recommend this book!

I cannot say just how much I loved this story collection. The stories were sad, funny, poignant and very, very interesting. If you like people like Alice Munro you'll like this!

This was a problem of high expectations. I thought it would be great and it wasn't even good.

If you want some time killer short stories, it isn't bad.

My life has suddenly become crowded with all these wonderful and interesting people. I am so grateful to Ms. Reinhorn for taking me on this devastating roller coaster ride in such a wealth of wisdom and love and exquisite wordcraft.
We have been on such adventures together! Her narrative voice is the most clearly and honestly human I have ever read, vaulting high above many who grovel in the vileness of being in an effort to reach her level of honesty. What amazes me again and again is the genderless strength, delicacy, nuance, rawness, humor, ache and triumph in each story. One character, a pregnant woman, read so much like a man half way through that I had to check to see if I were reading the same story. Then, having been in that same "delicate condition", I gloried in that truth of our existence: strength and reality know no gender!
I am breathless, but not speechless as I sing the praises of this book from friend to friend. I may even have to collar a few strangers on the street.