Cat's Grin (Twentieth Century Lives) [Paperback]

Francois Maspero (Author)

Book Description

Series: Twentieth Century Lives | Publication Date: April 21, 1998

A wise and bitter novel about memory and death. —New Yorker ...The reader will be grateful for this memoir of the times. —New York Times Book Review What you hear is Cat's voice, which is also the voice of a generation...Maspero has written a novel that has at its center the particulars of a believable character's anguish and sorrow–a novel this is about the enduring truths of loving and surviving. —St. Louis Post-Dispatch A bitter, finely detailed, authentic coming-of-age novel.—Kirkus Reviews Hiding quietly behind his Cheshire grin, Cat has seen that men do terrible things to one another, and that they invent lies to justify their acts. In Paris, he has befriended a young bar attendant and, through her, he is introduced to a world as cruel as anything he saw during the war. Here, in the streets and cafes, the violence is aimed at women....Cat's Grin is an exceptionally fine novel, a wise and humane look at a world that is both shocking and familiar. —San Francisco Chronicle

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This semiautobiographical novel covers the crucial year 1944-1945 in the life of 13-year-old Luc "Cat" Ponte-Serra. " Firsthand accounts of civilian suffering and resistance, the unquenchable fight for a free France in the last year of WW II--both in Paris and the provinces--and unflinching revelations about the death camps make Cat's Grin a moving personal document," wrote PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 295 pages
• Publisher: New Amsterdam Books; New edition edition (April 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941533336
• ISBN-13: 978-0941533331
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,371,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cat's Grin will sneak into your heart, April 13, 2007

By 

Erin Byrne "ebyrnewriter" (auburn, wa usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cat's Grin (Twentieth Century Lives) (Paperback)

Cat's Grin is an extremely personal and profound look at the Occupation and Liberation of France through the eyes of a boy plowing through both adolesence and this tumultuous time period. Cat (Luc) recalls pre-war France and his family life so precisely that the reader lives it too. As his life begins to unravel, Cat responds in his typical hilarious and wise fashion. He goes on a brave, desperate search for his beloved brother, Antoine, a fighter for the Resistance; leads his fellow schoolboys in paper airplane flying adventures in the Luxembourg gardens; and finally must come to terms with the unendurable impacts of the war. With writing that is both stark and eloquent, Cat's Grin will sneak into your heart and stay there for a long time.