- Paperback: 219 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (27 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743205049
- ISBN-13: 978-0743205047
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.3 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,656,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Simon Doonan author of "Confessions of a Window Dresser" and creative director, Barneys Melissa de la Cruz is the Jackie Collins of the "Moomba" generation -- she's on a collision course with pulp stardom.
Product Description
Cat McAllister grew up as a Hollywood child star, spent her adolescence modeling in Japan, and now, as she celebrates her twenty-fifth birthday for the fourth time, she lives for velvet ropes, Moet & Chandon, gold-leaf invitations, and other fashionista prizes. But on her way up the social ladder, making her way past the who's who and the what's what, Cat finds herself stuck in that seventh circle of celebrity hell.
What's worse, her funds are running dry.
What's a girl to do?
Marry rich. And so the ruckus begins, taking us from China for a baby adoption, to Paris for the couture shows, to the "it" world of Gotham. And that's just the hors d'oeuvres.
Punctuated with Kim DeMarco's illustrations, "Cat's Meow" is a spectacularly witty novel about a young woman looking for love, clothes, and what will make her truly happy in life.
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First Sentence
My name is Cat McAllister. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
My name is Cat McAllister. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
In CAT'S MEOW by Melissa de la Cruz, the main character, a New Yorker named Cat McAllister, lives according to a spendthrift modus operandi overlaid with a bratty, self-centered shallowness and monumental snootiness. (If you've seen the American TV series NEWHART of the 1980s, recall the spoiled and vain Stephanie Vanderkellen role played marvelously by Julia Duffy. Cat is another Stephanie, and then some.)
Cat is a former Hollywood child star, now almost forgotten, who lives solely on the trust fund set up by her deceased Dad. Without gainful employment, she spends her time and inherited money in ceaseless and ultimately futile efforts to be trendy, fashionable, and seen with the Big Apple's Beautiful People, and be noticed by high society columnists. Cat's best friend is a sex-changed male now calling herself India. Her nemesis is another social climber, former friend Teeny Van der Hominie, who effortlessly manages to be everything that Cat aspires to be but isn't. Cat's goal is to marry Prince Stephan of Westonia, reputedly the heir to some little known central European pocket state, who will rescue her from penury and social obscurity.
I can't deny that CAT'S MEOW is amusing. It occasionally is, and for that reason I reluctantly toss it three barely flickering stars. However, McAllister is positively annoying. Since de la Cruz is heavily involved with the New York fashion "scene", I gather that her novel was written to be a satire. However, that doesn't mean the author can't or shouldn't make her primary character at least nominally likeable. Instead, Cat comes across as gratingly insufferable. If I was unfortunate enough to know such a woman in real life, I'd immediately relegate her in my mind to the useless margin of humanity. As for the book itself, I found myself at the end hurrying to finish so I could get on to something more substantive and worthwhile.
At one point Cat is forced to look for a real job. Without any qualifications whatsoever, she brazenly applies with Conde Nast publications for a fashion editor position.
"I took the famous Conde Nast elevators and prepared myself for the infamous elevator stare down between competing editrixes, but only found myself next to a slovenly maintenance man. I gave him a hard glare nevertheless. Overalls are so over."
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
29 reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Oh, to be famous...
1 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
I have just finished reading this fabulous novel, and let me tell you, Cat's Meow is just plain fun! While it is certainly no literary achievement of great strides, Melissa de la Cruz's book has nevertheless provided me with the opportunity to see how "the other half" lives and has done so in a tongue-in-cheek, sitcom-comedy sort of way.
Cat McAllister, former child star and teen model, is about to celebrate her 4th annual 25th birthday when she suddenly realizes she's quickly becoming a has-been. Other celebrities her age have graduated to bigger and better things while Cat has remained in what she refers to as the "seventh circle of celebrity hell." Plus, as much as Cat enjoys buying the latest designer clothes, accessories, and tickets to the latest charity-of-the-week soiree, it's no surprise her credit is suffering and trust fund depleted. So armed with her best friend, successfully transformed transvestite India Beresford-Givens, Cat embarks on a mission to marry rich -- Stephan of Westonia (a Prince no less) is the perfect target.
Shallow, vain, and ridiculous, Cat's Meow had me howling. Full of spoiled-brat humor, celebrity-studded parties, name-dropping, and designer clothes, this book is one not to be missed. It's like being invited to all the fun stuff without having to pay! A fabulous and frolicking joy ride in the life of a New York socialite, her Sri Lankin au pair and transvestite friend, in a world where money, clothes and being popular is always in style. Très magnifique!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
You MUST Read This Book
20 July 2001
Format:Paperback
Do yourself a favor and read Cat's Meow. Melissa de la Cruz's quick-witted and irreverent humor had me in stitches the entire time. Fashion victims and victims of fashion victims alike will get a kick out of this. I know my next visit to Barney's will be with eyes wide open.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
glamour, debt and the art of living in excess in nyc
22 July 2001
Format:Paperback
I lift my cosmopolitan and toast cat mcallister -- she's brigid jones meets carrie bradshaw meets cher from clueless ... all the right accessories with some dysfunctional charm keeping it real. If you can admit to yourself that everyone tries to be chic and only a few truly succeed, then you too will find this literary treasure mad funny and painfully true to life !
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