The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun: A Parody [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Kaplow (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: New Millennium (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932407391
• ISBN-13: 978-1932407396
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A short story at best, September 12, 2005

By 

Book Lover (Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun: A Parody (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed the Cat Who mysteries at first...the early books were well plotted and interesting to those who prefer their mysteries genteel rather than grisley/gritty. (In other words, pleasant, escapist summer reading in a world that has enough of the grisley/gritty.) But after Quill moved to Pickax, inherited a bundle of money, and essentially morphed from a newsman into a frumpy old woman, I lost interest.

So I thought I would enjoy this parody, and did for about 5 pages. (I laughed out loud at the scene where our parody protagonist Q prepared a gourmet meal for his cats, who spurned it in favor of dry kibble.) And yeah, it was cute to have it turn out that Braun was trolling in a gay bar. Ha ha. But after one has poked fun at the fussy cats and the fussy author, there just ain't a whole lot left to parody, so Kaplow writes what could be considered the anti-Cat Who book, saturated with gratuitious sex and violence. It grows tiresome very quickly once the shock value and irony have worn off at page 6.

The maliciousness against Braun also grows tiresome. Ok, so she's no Cather or Fitzgerald, writing the Great American Novel...and I'm sure she's not aspiring to be. But then, neither is Kaplow despite his attempts to impress us with his vast knowledge by dropping every name he can think of, and I sense more than a little envy and anger in this book over the fact that Braun's franchise continues to rake in the cash. She won the lottery, and he didn't. (Though he's not above trying to cash in on her fame here.)

A quote from Susan Stamberg on the jacket says "Mercifully short." Alas, if only that were true. Though if you deleted the expletives, the book would be half as long.

If you still feel you must read this, get it at the library.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Cat Who Wrote A Cheap Pornographic Rip-Off Book, September 1, 2005

By 

Russell Dember (Menlo Park, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun: A Parody (Mass Market Paperback)

I can save you from having to read the first 66 pages by telling two of the VERY few things that had to do with the original Cat Who books and were actually funny. 1: In a meeting with LJB "...he (Qafka) sang 'Mas Que Nada.' She would later use the incident in her novel The Cat Who Loved Sergio Mendez and Brazil '66." 2: After Qafka prepared an exrordinary breakfast for the cats, "The cats took one sniff and slinked away, irritated at not getting the dried-up stars of DeliCat they so loved."

I would tell you what went on after page 66 but the escalating vulgarity, lack of humor and lack of connection to the original Cat Who novels got the book taken back to the library in less than 24 hours.

The sexually exlplicit quote opposite the dedication page is not misplaced as I thought when I stated reading the book with expectations of writting consistent with LJB. It was adequate warning of the brainless trash that dominates this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disapointing Parody, June 8, 2007

By 

Co Z (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun: A Parody (Mass Market Paperback)

Parody can be a difficult style to write well, and Robert Kaplow does not live up the challenge he set for himself in attempting to parody Lilian Jackson Braun's "Cat Who..." Series. I was hoping for a book poking fun at the very sterile universe Ms. Braun has created in her mystery novels, however this parody falls flat. Although Ms. Braun's bestselling novels are said to be the target of parody they seem to be merely a vehicle for Mr. Kaplow to rant about modern life -as many of the positive reviews have pointed out he takes aim at many public figures and popular trends. He may be lambasting "The Cat Who" in one sentence by making a vague reference about the spelling of the main character's name, but for the rest of the page he is poking fun at, say, Oprha. Sadly he does neither one well. Mr. Kaplow's device for tying his disparate subject matter together is weak sex oriented humor. For example a repeated theme in Mr. Kaplow's book is that of describing his characters as "masturbating violently". I found this to be uninventive and uninspired. While this may appeal to some, those looking for a true parody of "The Cat Who..." series should pass this book by.