Fun to read Gigi after seeing the movie. The grooming of the young Gigi for her life as a courtesan is a bit more heartless here than in the singing version, and it does make you wonder why this play is performed in so many high schools....
The cat is a strange story of a self-absorbed man who loves his cat over anyone else, in a distinctly unhealthy manner. Wonderful but it does give you the feeling you need to wash your hands afterwards. ( )

Gigi (at fifty pages) is more short story than novel, a remarkably unvarnished account of a (very) young girl's life, views and behaviours, especially when written by a woman in 1940s France. The Cat, on the other hand, published in 1933, is the exceptionally deep account of a man's strange engagement with his cat, as he and the cat move in (and quite rapidly out of) marriage. Colette's early work was published in his own name (and to his considerable profit) by her abusive husband. Her escape and emergence as a writer of such innovative work is cause for celebration. ( )

Adult fiction. This title was suggested to me by goodreads; I thought it might make for an interesting bookclub read but have no desire to revisit it. I read gigi and skimmed through "the Cat"--the back cover says that they are both love stories but it means tragic romance. 15 1/2-year old Gigi's mother, grandma and aunt are pushing her into the family tradition of courtesanship, though she clearly isn't ready to; in the end she relents. In the Cat, a woman's jealousy over her husband's beloved cat causes her to try to kill the animal (it miraculously survives the 9-story fall) and thus ends their imperfect marriage. ( )

In Gigi, a poor almost-sixteen-year-old girl accepts the proposal from a millionaire in spite the best efforts of her grandmother and great aunt to groom her for just such a good match to improve the family finances. This romantic comedy pits the fastidious decorum of the elder generation against the teen's impetuous impulses and youthful spirit of self-determination. Ironically, these are the very characteristics that appeal to her wealthy suitor.

La Chatte, originally published eleven years earlier, is a detailed and scathing portrait of a short marriage that would be better to have never taken place. A week before the nuptial the reader is introduced to the immature couple the energetic Camille and her intended Alain, who in the first few pages is assessing Camille’s characteristics as a “typical modern girl” who likes to drive roadsters. She drives well, but a bit too fast. She has no problem deceiving her parent to slip out for their romantic encounters. He thinks “dispassionately” she’s pretty “because not one of her features is ugly” and he likes her assertively amorous ways. “He was also perfectly aware that she could be as violent and capricious as a mountain stream.”

Alain himself, is a wealthy, spoiled, only child, who much prefers his boyhood home, a mansion with beautiful grounds, and his cat, a pure-bred Russian Blue. In fact, he prefers leisurely hanging around his childhood haunts and the company of his cat named Saha, the cat of the book’s title, to running about at a frantic pace with Camille. The incompatibility of the two in all matters except their sexual relations is a recipe for disaster which Colette describes in exquisite detail. The author meticulously pays attention to the touch, smell, color, sound, sight, light, taste, texture, of everything her characters encounter, reflect upon, and feel. Reading her work is like a close examination of a painting by a master. ( )

Well, this is nothing like the movie avec Leslie Caron et Louis Jordan....

Gigi, 15 going on a very immature 16, is raised by her grandmother and her Aunt, they are grooming her to be a a mistress to Society Men.

Tonton/Gaston Lachaille, a family friend, who has grown very bored of his high society existence & the antics of his current mistress often visits Gigi & her grandmother. They share card games, light meals & drinks.

Gaston falls in love with Gigi, who throws a fit when she finds out she is to go live with Gaston.....

Pffft! ( )