Greg Morrison

I wasn't at first sure whether to give this 4 stars or 5 - I have read some truly great short fiction (James Joyce, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, etc.), and I wasn't sure "Cat Person" belongs in quite the same tier, but I settled on five. Not only has the story "gotten into my head" similar to the way all great fiction has and touched the zeitgheist of the cultural moment with an uncanny accuracy, it is also, in fact, very well-written. Told in third person from the point of view of a young woman, "Margot", the author inhabits her interior world thoroughly yet with a very light touch that never judges or moralizes, and Margot's understanding of events overall unfolds in a very natural way that never feels forced. The story itself progresses from scene to scene seamlessly in a way that feels more like a retelling of a factual story than a fictional tale, It IS interesting how so many men have jumped all over this story with such venom - as though such a situation is so foreign to their own understanding of things that it must therefore be impossible. The male protagonist of the story, "Robert", emerges as a man who - while having some of the outward trappings of cultural "sophistication" - is nonetheless awkward to the point of clumsiness when it comes to genuine emotional intimacy with another. It would seem that there are a lot of "Roberts" out there who didn't appreciate having this pointed out in such an eloquent fashion... Yeah, 5/5 seems about right.