Kitten G. Arthur Brown 9781621050650 Books
Download As PDF : Kitten G. Arthur Brown 9781621050650 Books
It's the story of a pill-popping mother, an estranged father, their hapless son and his kitten, which is not a kitten.
No. It's the story of a kitten that IS a kitten on a steel planet he does not understand, accompanied by oddball companions on a quest to return home, seeking revenge.
Stop! You're both right. Kitten combines darkly personal and surreal psychodrama with zany adventure and absurd satire, adding to the mix a father-in-law who refuses to die and an ugly neighbor with fish for hands. Can Trevor enjoy the next episode of The Oversea Adventures of Pirate Piet? Does Willoughby make a fashionable hat for giant pandas? Only Kitten holds the answers.
Kitten G. Arthur Brown 9781621050650 Books
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Kitten G. Arthur Brown 9781621050650 Books Reviews
Kittens who are not kittens who throw up stamps are not as dangerous to one’s sanity as the cat lady living next door with over 20 imaginary cats defecating all over her house. Yet this dead girl who emerged from the trunk of their attic existed because of the grandfather’s experiments.
This whimsical novella is compact, tight, excellently written, and hugely inventive. It also features time travel and is consistently surreal, in the classical school of painters and filmmakers sense.
When a dead boy is used as a puppet on an island run by children, the goofiness that exploded like napalm in the previous 25 or so pages vanished and offered a brief respite and a ray of hope for the more sinister first section of Kitten. There was a medium modicum of darkness during an Alice in Wonderland-driven segue through riddles threatening cracks in comforting logic, the blanket of which we clutch ever so tightly as the moon erupts his warty smile.
There were some interesting quasi metafictional moments as well–an awareness of certain characters coupled with a near willingness to break the fourth wall as they compared the transpiring events to Guy Maddin and Gogol.
In the end, we ride a sleigh backwards and discover the frozen icicle fingers of the ghoul dangling just beside the sleigh’s bells.
Wow...this book was...well...really weird, but weird in such a good way. The novella is broken up into 3 parts, and I'm glad it was; if Brown had tried to execute the telling of this tale without some serious breaks, I think it woulda been very confusing. It was confusing enough as is. During the first part, I felt all smart and proud of myself. I said out loud "Aha! I've totally got this one figured out!" Boy was I wrong. Really wrong.
Basically, this is a familial tale about a little boy with a kitten that isn't really a kitten, a mother that isn't really a mother, same for his father, grandfather, etc. Basically, he has a pseudo family going on. Which I believe is meant to be commentary on the nature of families now-a-days. They're always split six ways to Sunday. And this poor little boy only has his kitten. Until The Collector eats the poor kitten that's not a kitten.
That's when stuff gets weird. Mr. Not-a-kitty ends up on a steel planet, which is explained to be the land of the living. Not-a-kitty asks Tamanney (his fish handed friend that helps him get back home) what this world is. The answer will stick with me forever. He says that this new place is the planet of the living, and that Not-a-kitty was brought up from the planet of the dead, because how else do you end up with real live things besides recycling the parts of the dead? Kinda makes sense, eh? Anyway, suffice it to say, the steel planet holds many wonders and strange happenings, including cardboard cutout children, neighbors with a serious case of bloodlust, a vessel manned by Captain Swann, a journey to the see the Chunder Lord (who is only accessible through a visit to the King of Children) on Children's Isle, and some nice, tasty gun parts for dinner. Hell, I think The Little Prince even makes an appearance! Which is a whole lotta stuff going on. Let's just say its kinda a 'happy ever after' type ending, but Willoughby, Amaand and Trevor pretty much have to crawl through s*** to get to that contentment.
And therein lies the only problem I encountered...the lingering feeling that I really missed the boat on this one. Maybe it was because I was half asleep at one point (for the record, no...its NOT because the book was boring- quite the opposite- and I did go back and read that chapter again). But I feel as though Brown is a smart, smart guy, and I missed his metaphorical telling of a family in shambles. Maybe I'm way off; I'm not sure. But the situation with Ted, Amaand, and Trevor seemed very complex, and I felt as though the entire second/middle section was some sort of 'lesson' in morality and the nature of a failed marriage, and I hate that I just didn't 'get it.' I think it would have helped had the book been longer. That is one problem I consistently find with the NBAS- they aren't long enough to thoroughly tell the story the author is trying to convey. Either way, this is deserving of a re-read to see what more I can take away from this book.
The writing was incredible. Absolutely no complaints whatsoever in that department. The editing was tight, the prose was on point, and the description was very, well, detailed. It was an enjoyable little distraction from the 'real world' for an hour or so, and I enjoyed the book very much, even if I didn't quite understand exactly what the kitten represented. Love? Bonding? Family? Maybe I'll figure it out one day while I'm contemplating the book. Or maybe I won't get it until I re-read it. But if you enjoy weird and exciting adventure tales, you will most definitely enjoy this one. And who really knows? Maybe this isn't some serious social commentary, and was just meant for fun. I, personally, got the strong impression that this was not the case, however. You'll see what I mean when you read it. And if you figure out what Brown's underlying theme is, let me know! That man is obviously incredibly intelligent, and I will most certainly keep my eyes out for any more books he puts out. I think if he had a chance to write a longer piece, he'd have a grand slam on his hands. As it stands, Kitten is enjoyable, short, and entertaining with a flavor of seriousness lying just under the surface. If nothing else, read it for the sheer oddity of the story. Its worth it for that alone.
Kitten is a novella-sized work that seems to fit into the "bizarre" genre. Only my second read in this genre, but it felt like home. At its heart, it is the basic story of a boy and his Kitten. Deeper still, I got the feeling it had a little to do with the kitten finding his identity and meaning in the world. If there was anything deeper than that, I probably just missed it--although there were some clear potshots taken at the ridiculousness of society.
The humor in this book was right up my alley. Quirky, twisty, and sometimes rude. Part of the reason I picked up this book was to take a shot at something different, and it was certainly that. It is set up in three parts (two primary parts and then a final, short act), and I have to say I rather enjoyed the first part better. I really liked Dead Girl and the story of "Pee Baby" quite a bit, and found myself chuckling out loud at times. And, too, I found the idea of the kitten as being more like a weird squirrel a little more fascinating ...
The style of the book seems to be very train-of-thought writing, buzzing from one thing to the next to keep the reader off guard. It was a fun style, but was also a little disjointing at times.
All-in-all, really good stuff. It reminded me a lot of James Walley's The First Forty Wink.
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