Customer Reviews

The Catsitters: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I couldn't stand this book. The main character was uninteresting, the plot dragged, Wolcott alternately starves the reader of information or completely overshares (we get complete rundowns of movies Johnny Downs has seen, phone conversations he's had, and not one single moment of these paragraphs illuminates the character's inner workings.) There were also multiple copy editing errors in my edition (which I blame not so much on Wolcott, but on the folks at HarperCollins), and they were of the ignorant variety rather than simple typos: "trey" for the French word "tres," "prune" instead of "prude," etc. Overall a very poor effort. I read it to the end, but it was a struggle.

I read "The Catsitters" in two sittings. It would have been one sitting, but I had to rip myself away from reading to go to work. Catsitters is a fun, witty, insightful read and I really enjoyed it.

Johnny is an actor who mostly is doing television commercials. When he gets dumped by his girlfriend, Nicole, he turns to his best friend Darlene for comfort, What Darlene offers is advice on turning Johnny from a bachelor to an "unmarried man." This advice is pretty humorous, but also is dead on. As another reviewer mentioned, it really is hard to believe that a man wrote this book!

The story takes some unexpected turns that really kept things interesting. This book had me laughing and crying. I would highly recommend it.

THE CATSITTERS is just the sort of thing that inspires me to plagiarize Pauline Kael. This isn't fiction-writing. It's piffle-making. It's not bad, mind you. It succeeds on its own light-comedy terms. But we're talking about something that exists in a cutesy-poo alternate-universe where close friends routinely address each other by their last names.

Roy Blount once put out a book called WHAT MEN DON'T TELL WOMEN. Wolcott's fic could've credibly been titled WHAT WOMEN DON'T TELL MEN. Cause that's the gimmick behind the Johnny/Darlene dialog. Which is the best thing on offer. The theater scenes are pretty dull because the stage-plays themselves are under-described. AN OASIS FOR FOOLS is an obvious parody of THE ICEMAN COMETH, but nothing is delivered. And Johnny's own stage-play is another blank.

I'll be honest, I saw this book at a few places and thought the cover was the most adorable thing in the world. I promised myself I would read it. While I was at the library I saw it, skimmed over the jacket and checked it out.

Well, it started off slow, but I didn't give up! I figured halfway through it would probably pick up pace a bit and Johnny would get some balls of his own instead of feeding off of his overpowering friend, Darlene. I was wrong. The story has no tone whatsoever. It goes on and on, with no real climax.

The thing that irritated me the MOST about this book was Darlene. First of all, who the hell does she think she is? She does not speak for all women, nor does she have any idea what she's talking about. Maybe I'm just "different" but I did not agree with one thing that she said. I don't know if that's how the author thinks most women think. If it is, he needs to talk to a bit more women.

The characters were not well rounded. I didn't learn anything about them. I felt gypped where getting to know was involved. Everything was too told and not shown.

It really is too bad the cover is so cute.

There was some cute parts of this book. The author obviously has a sense of humor. I can understand why some reviewers would give it five stars. However, I found the story to be flawed in ways that affects my review.

I found the chapter about Johnny Downs family completely gumpy until Downs offers to wash the dishes and then understands why his brothers' marraiges are not happy ones. I was almost more interested in his old friend's family problems than the rest of the story. There were characters in the novel that weren't well drawn. For instance, besides their looks, Caroline and Darlene could be the same person. If Kate is so pretty and nice why would she put up with Gleason, who's obviously much less attractive and appealing?

It's obvious that Wolcott thought women would grab this book off the shelves. There were characters he set them up to hate right away and he destroys what could be a more intelligent and likeable character (Darlene) by turning her into a loser. The story he tells is one that should be more useful to men but I doubt any them would ever read it unless their female companion left a copy of it on the back of the toilet seat.

The Catsitters was a very quick read; light and fluffy, which seems to be the author's intent. The protagonist, Johnny Downs, is a pretty well fleshed-out character, neither good nor evil. A struggling actor who seems to be muddling through life with no particular direction and little sense of decisiveness, Johnny's relationships with women keep petering out. After the latest and most humiliating breakup, he allows his closest female friend, Darlene, to groom him into a "real man" by giving him lots of lectures about what women's behavior *really* means, etc. While the character of Johnny is believable, the character of Darlene seems to be a bit cliched, though this problematic element is more satisfactorily resolved near the end. The plot is a bit meandering, which in this case isn't such a bad thing, as there is a lot of action nonetheless, and the characters are well-written for the most part. Wolcott's take on the acting circuit in NYC is funny and is believable, as this area is where he puts his more famous, snarkier commentary to work. The emotion and romance never feels too cute, but still doesn't have the same bite as a Hornby novel, as far as stories told from a male perspective.

The jacket flap compares The Catsitters to Bridget Jones. I disagree. There is much less self pity in The Catsitters. There are a few similarities- both Bridget and Johnny are on the prowl for love in a big city, they are both funny, but that's about all the similarities.As a forty something single man, I could, and did, wince ruefully a few times. However, Johnny triumphs in the end, winding up with a very suitable woman.The last subplot centers on a play Johnny wrote, about a men's anger management group. This is a very thought provoking topic, and Wolcott handles it deftly and tartly. Wolcott is indeed a clear observer of contemprary American life.If there is a film adaptation, it may turn into a very good movie.

I could not believe this book was written by a man! This was so accurate, entertaining, and fun to read. James Wolcott is an extremely talented author with incredible insight into the femal mind. The story revolves around a struggling actor named Johnny Downs who lives with his cat. His best friend Darlene plots to make Johnny into husband material and begins controlling his every move around the ladies.

Darlene instructs, "At dinner, mirror her moves...make it seem as if you are in unconscious harmony with her...Then do the glass test...slide your water glass close to hers...If she leaves her glass in place, it means she's comfortable in your presence. But if she pulls her glass back, it means she's in a defensive posture."

And Darlene on walking: "The Pocketbook Test is even more revealing than the Glass Test. If Claudia strolls with her pocketbook on the side away from you, she's leaving the near side open, making her hand available for holding...If she slings her pocketbook over the arm closest to you, it means she's setting up a protective barrier."

Soon, Johnny has actual dates and then girlfriends. But does Darlene have Johnny's best interests at heart? And why do his relationships suddenly go awry? Will Johhnny find sucess as an actor? Will Johnny find true love? You will love this book and its sharp dialogue. Pass it on to friends! I can't wait for Wolcott's next novel.

This is a good light read, but there are a few too many flaws to make it recommendable. The most blatant problem with "The Catsitters" is Darlene and her over-the-top battle plans. Arranging for dozens of roses to be waiting at the theater on a first date? That's not romantic, it's a bit creepy. According to the book's foreword, Darlene's character was based on books and studies related to interpersonal relationships. It shows - her character is more like a to-do list than a caring friend. The Hollywood ending would have had Darlene ending up with Johnny. Thankfully, Wolcott offered a slightly fresh alternative.
The other distracting flaw was the dialogue. People don't really talk like they do in this book. It seemed Wolcott was too busy attempting to advance the plot through forced conversations without bothering to make them sound authentic.
Otherwise, the author's attention to detail and ability to paint vivid scenes were impressive. In fact, his descriptive text was often strong enough to overshadow the weak dialogue. And it's impossible to give less than three stars to a book that had me staying up way too late to follow the next interesting twist in the story. Overall, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses by a (cat) hair.

When I picked up this book, I wasn't sure what to expect but the inside jacket copy made it sound intriguing. Factor in that Mr. Wolcott's writing stints have been with publications I also enjoy, made me pick up this book. I thought Johnny Downs, although quite flawed, was an empathetic character. Darlene, on the other hand, was a controlling and over-compensating constant female other than Slinky. Although Johnny seemed to have been spoon-fed everything, he was open to the information just as the anger management group men had to be. The satellite characters were interesting: Claudia, Gleason, Green, and Amanda. Although you knew he would end up with someone, the Annette character was not that interesting, almost like background noise. The theater backdrop was great and seemed quite authentic. Maybe the flawed characters are as in life. I recommend this book as a good read.