Kaethe

My daughter will be appearing in Gigi this spring, if winter ever leaves us, so I thought I'd read it. Meh. Based on these two stories, I feel towards Colette what I feel towards Wharton: indifference and a little boredom. Sure, yes, turn-of-the-twentieth-century romantic pairings were hard due to the tremendous inequality of the sexes and the awkward courtship customs of the time. But even knowing the financial importance to an entire family, I just can't feel that teenage student Gigi seducing a wealthy man twice her age is a happy ending. Let alone pretending it is a bit of cleverness on her part. The idea makes my skin crawl. Certainly it doesn't feel like comedy to me.

That the newlyweds in The Cat are so miserable is no surprise. But if the publishers were looking for a cheap image to slap on the cover, couldn't they at least have found one of a Russian Blue, which is what the cat in the story is?

Library copy