Max and the Cats [Paperback]

MOACYR SCLIAR (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 1990

Max Schmidt grew up in the stockroom of his father's fur store, cloaked among the foxes, minks, and leopards, hiding from the glaring eyes of a stuffed tiger atop the wardrobe. It is here he dreams of traveling to distant lands; and here, as a young man, he begins an affair with the store's married clerk.

Forced to flee when his lover's husband discovers the affair and denounces Max to the Nazi secret police, Max steals away to Hamburg, where he takes passage on a freighter destined for disaster. When the ship founders somewhere off the coast of South America, Max is trapped in a dinghy with a hungry jaguar. Max believes his days are numbered-until he washes ashore on the coast of tiny Porto Alegre, Brazil, prepared to begin anew in the tropical clime.

But when Max discovers his next-door neighbor is a Nazi hiding from persecution, he finds that for the first time in his life, he is the master of his own destiny, ready to take matters into his own hands...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in Brazil in 1981, Scliar's novella tells, with a sharp eye but a glancing touch, the story of a boy at the mercy of terrible forces, who grows into a man similarly powerless, until he commits an act of violent defiance. German Max Schmidt, son of a brutish furrier and a gentle mother, is "morbidly sensitive," imagining escape to exotic climes. At university, Max befriends a troubled socialist and rekindles his affair with libidinous Frida, the fur store clerk who had deflowered him. But Frida is now married to a Nazi, who learns of the relationship, and Max must flee on a ship bound for Brazil. When the ship sinks-sabotaged by its evil captain and the owner of the menagerie of animals in the hull-Max barely survives, only to find himself in a tiny dinghy in the company of a jaguar, whom he imagines has been sent to torment him. Max is rescued and makes his way to Brazil, where he lives in relative comfort until he spies a man in a Nazi uniform across the courtyard. He flees again, this time to the hills, where he becomes a moderately successful farmer, marries a native and has a daughter. Max can be an irrational, not entirely likable hero, and in this slight but somber fable, there is little time for him to win readers' hearts, though he earns their sympathy. When another Nazi moves onto the hillside above him, Max finally stands up to fate and the forces of evil. Scliar's affecting story about the power of fear has what purports to be a happy ending, but the darkness lingers.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Fleeting pleasure leads to disaster when young Max Schmidt's first sexual encounter becomes an act of political subversion. Escape to Brazil salvages him from Nazi Germany's supremacist principles, a domineering father, and the macabre laboratories of one professor Kunz, who is in search of the meaning of life. But when it comes to liberating himself from bestial felines, Max is not so fortunate. The glaring eyes of his father's taxidermic tiger haunts his sleep. A jaguar happens to be his companion at sea after a shipwreck. His blissful exile is threatened when the cries of a panther mysteriously herald the arrival of a German officer. Scliar convivially probes the angst of the migrator and the loss of identity. Terse and whimsical, this engaging subterraneous fantasy strengthens the writer's already intrepid voice in Latin American fiction.
- Bibi S. Thompson, " Library Journal "
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 99 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 14, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345367073
• ISBN-13: 978-0345367075
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,470,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine novel by one of Brazil's best writers, May 3, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Max and the Cats (Paperback)

"Max and the Cats" is a surreal comic novel by Moacyr Scliar, a great writer from Brazil. "Max" has been translated from Portuguese into English by Eloah F. Giacomelli (who also translated Scliar's monumental "Collected Stories"). "Max" tells the story of Max Schmidt, who is born in Germany in 1912, the son of a furrier. The novel tells of Max's coming of age and his emigration to Brazil.

Max's life story is structured around his encounters with three big felines: a stuffed tiger in his father's shop, a jaguar, and an onca (a Brazilian wildcat). I don't want to reveal too much about the novel's quirky plot. I will just say that Max gets into many remarkable situations: comic, frightening, erotic, and/or absurd.

Much of the story takes place under the specter of World War II and the Nazis, and other elements of the novel tap into the myth of the Americas as a new world of opportunity. Scliar also refers more than once to the work of Jose de Alencar, the 19th century Brazilian writer who created a romantic, idealized portrait of the relationship between Native Americans and Europeans. Scliar seems to be ironically commenting on the work of this literary predecessor.

"Max and the Cats" is a weird, wonderful triumph for Moacyr Scliar. Combining elements of mystery, realism, and the fantastic, this novel is an excellent example of Scliar's uniquely delightful voice.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty interesting book but will have to read The Life of Pi to make a comparison, January 25, 2011

By 

Phillip "amazon_phil" (Philadephia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Max and the Cats (Paperback)

Well, this book is no longer in print at the time and I had to find a copy at a used bookstore. Now, it looks like Amazon carries it so alot easier to get it. Pretty slim book which makes it easy to carry in your coat pocket when you are on the go like me. I mainly got this book since I loved his previous book, "The Centaur in the Garden". I know this is a short book so it would be unfair to compare it against "The Centaur in the Garden".

Let me first say that immediately I was drawn in by Scliar's descriptions of a young boy traumatized in his father's fur coat store. All of his descriptions are marvelous and nobody compares except maybe Roald Dahl. Part of the reason why I really appreciate Scliar is because he can write beautifully for both adults and kids. Instead of painting adults as mean souled, Scliar just tells it as it is without any bias of adolescence over adulthood. Looking back at Dahl's works, most stories and novels tended to show that parents don't know best. Without revealing much of the plot, Scliar has an even-hand in portraying both kids and adults. I just loved how Scliar deals with the estranged relationship between Max and his father.

Another thing that I value in Scliar's books is his storytelling which can take you pretty much anywhere. If you are looking for a linear plot where everything gets wrapped up together in the end, then this is not it. Life really is not like that at all and Scliar gets this right. There are no fairy-tale endings in books. I really felt refreshed after finishing the book and wished it went on more like with his wife, Jaci and his daughter. But, I think Scliar wanted to just leave it as is. We live life to its fullest and without regrets. Max may have dealt with some issues in the past. But, it's like all things in life where we just move on. I haven't read "The Life of Pi" which is based on this book. So, I will have to read it now and make a comparison afterwards. I hope more of Scliar's books get translated, but it looks like I'll have to find these books in libraries for now.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In the End We All Have to Face Our Fears, September 19, 2008

By 

Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Max and the Cats (Paperback)

Unlike two of the reviews prior to this one, I was very impressed by the flow of this story. We go from a fearful child, fearful of his father, fear of cats, of life of danger. When he finally finds some pleasure in his life, it is taken away from him when he has to flee because of the Nazis. He then is involved in a boat sinking where he dreams (encounters) a cat who he first fears but then overcomes.

Later in his life, he once again finds happiness, but it is tainted by a friend of his who has problems with black/white relationships (very normal in Brazil). He loses his mother in the war, and he visits his father in a German insane asylum. He has come to grips with his father and even meets an old lover.

When he gets back to Brazil, he finds that the man he ran away from in Germany has come to live on the hill above his house. They have several run ins and Max come to the point where they face-off and Max kills him. Coming home after five years in jail, he spends the rest of his life raising prize 'brazilian angora' cats. It's a great little story about people conquering their fears, and trying to make things right in the world.

Zeb Kantrowitz