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The Catsitters: A Novel

The Catsitters: A Novel

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good effort
Review: I did enjoy this book but I felt as though it were lacking a key element, and that element would have made this a better book. Characters made their entrances and exits without making a supreme impact on the outcome of this book.
But non the less, it was a good time passers...read it when you are on the bus...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I read "The Catsitters" in two sittings. It would have been one sitting, but I had to rip myself away from reading to go to work. Catsitters is a fun, witty, insightful read and I really enjoyed it.

Johnny is an actor who mostly is doing television commercials. When he gets dumped by his girlfriend, Nicole, he turns to his best friend Darlene for comfort, What Darlene offers is advice on turning Johnny from a bachelor to an "unmarried man." This advice is pretty humorous, but also is dead on. As another reviewer mentioned, it really is hard to believe that a man wrote this book!

The story takes some unexpected turns that really kept things interesting. This book had me laughing and crying. I would highly recommend it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I read "The Catsitters" in two sittings. It would have been one sitting, but I had to rip myself away from reading to go to work. Catsitters is a fun, witty, insightful read and I really enjoyed it.

Johnny is an actor who mostly is doing television commercials. When he gets dumped by his girlfriend, Nicole, he turns to his best friend Darlene for comfort, What Darlene offers is advice on turning Johnny from a bachelor to an "unmarried man." This advice is pretty humorous, but also is dead on. As another reviewer mentioned, it really is hard to believe that a man wrote this book!

The story takes some unexpected turns that really kept things interesting. This book had me laughing and crying. I would highly recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun Read
Review: I'll be honest, I saw this book at a few places and thought the cover was the most adorable thing in the world. I promised myself I would read it. While I was at the library I saw it, skimmed over the jacket and checked it out.

Well, it started off slow, but I didn't give up! I figured halfway through it would probably pick up pace a bit and Johnny would get some balls of his own instead of feeding off of his overpowering friend, Darlene. I was wrong. The story has no tone whatsoever. It goes on and on, with no real climax.

The thing that irritated me the MOST about this book was Darlene. First of all, who the hell does she think she is? She does not speak for all women, nor does she have any idea what she's talking about. Maybe I'm just "different" but I did not agree with one thing that she said. I don't know if that's how the author thinks most women think. If it is, he needs to talk to a bit more women.

The characters were not well rounded. I didn't learn anything about them. I felt gypped where getting to know was involved. Everything was too told and not shown.

It really is too bad the cover is so cute.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: pleasant but no Jane Austen
Review: The Amazon.com review above is deceptive and false- this book no more compares to Jane Austen than it does to Bridget Jones, and those readers who believe the above review will be very disappointed. While Jane Austen or great literature this work is not, this is a very pleasant enjoyable escapist novel, easy to read, not taxing to the mind or brain. I had to keep checking the author's photograph to remind myself that yes, this novel about a paragon of an ideal male in the dating world was in fact conceived by a man, and therefore might conceivably exist if there are men who think that way! The protagonist is too perfect a man and too malleable by the manipulative Darlene. If Wolcott has created a male character that seems too good to be true, too sensitive, whom women will want to believe exists- he has done women a great disservice with his creation of the bitchy Darlene, a manipulative and unhappy character who is about as southern as the statue of Liberty. However, he has succeeded in writing the perfect beach book, an ultimately sweet novel and most pleasing is the fact that despite the above reviews, the plot and ending were not as predictable as one might think. This book marks quite a departure from Wolcott's acerbic witticisms about culture that he writes for the New Yorker- where is the great writing? but shows a sweet side I wouldn't have guessed he had. This is not a riotous comedy- there are no laugh out loud parts or moments of deep insight, nor does it define an age or a genre such as Bridget Jones has done, but I definately recommend this book for a light enjoyable read. But I also think Amazon ought to reconsider its above depiction of this book, which is far off the mark and thus does its patrons a disservice.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's gotta be a put-on
Review: THE CATSITTERS is just the sort of thing that inspires me to plagiarize Pauline Kael. This isn't fiction-writing. It's piffle-making. It's not bad, mind you. It succeeds on its own light-comedy terms. But we're talking about something that exists in a cutesy-poo alternate-universe where close friends routinely address each other by their last names.

Roy Blount once put out a book called WHAT MEN DON'T TELL WOMEN. Wolcott's fic could've credibly been titled WHAT WOMEN DON'T TELL MEN. Cause that's the gimmick behind the Johnny/Darlene dialog. Which is the best thing on offer. The theater scenes are pretty dull because the stage-plays themselves are under-described. AN OASIS FOR FOOLS is an obvious parody of THE ICEMAN COMETH, but nothing is delivered. And Johnny's own stage-play is another blank.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Funny, Witty and a Cat Lovers Must Read!!
Review: This book jumped off the shelf when I was walking down the isle looking for something for lite reading. Lite reading this is not. i didnt want to put it down, i had to see what Darlene would advise Johnny to do next. Let alone who was gonna watch his cat on his trips out of town. I read the first two pages standing in the isle and I had to check it out. I was for sure that half way thru the book he was gonna end up with Darlene. But thankgod he wasn't. But I wasn't happy with who he ended up with.. a girl who leaves little hints of her self around the house. Damn crazy if you ask me. But I didnt write the book. A must have summer read. Be prepared towars the end for a tear jerker.. sorry no hints!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Just Mediocre
Review: This book was easy to read, but left little to no (positive) impression on me. I read or at least skimmed all the other reviews and I was surprised to see than many people gave this book 4 stars, despite the fact that they only thought it was mediocre and seemed to have problems with it. One of those problems I could relate to, is that the main character, Johnny Downs, let his "friend" Darlene practically control his life. Was he really THAT clueless of a man, let alone a human, that he needed this woman's advice to manipulate his every move when it came to his love life? While some seemed to like Johnny, I thought he was a weak pushover with little character. His lack of substance as a person was annoying and I found him to be extremely wimpy. Overall, I would not recommend this book to a friend. Not that it was awful, but it was only okay. The ending was somewhat cheesy and predictable and once I finished it I was more than ready to read something better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fun but flawed
Review: This is a good light read, but there are a few too many flaws to make it recommendable. The most blatant problem with "The Catsitters" is Darlene and her over-the-top battle plans. Arranging for dozens of roses to be waiting at the theater on a first date? That's not romantic, it's a bit creepy. According to the book's foreword, Darlene's character was based on books and studies related to interpersonal relationships. It shows - her character is more like a to-do list than a caring friend. The Hollywood ending would have had Darlene ending up with Johnny. Thankfully, Wolcott offered a slightly fresh alternative.
The other distracting flaw was the dialogue. People don't really talk like they do in this book. It seemed Wolcott was too busy attempting to advance the plot through forced conversations without bothering to make them sound authentic.
Otherwise, the author's attention to detail and ability to paint vivid scenes were impressive. In fact, his descriptive text was often strong enough to overshadow the weak dialogue. And it's impossible to give less than three stars to a book that had me staying up way too late to follow the next interesting twist in the story. Overall, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses by a (cat) hair.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ironic and impossible to put down.
Review: This is a treat for all that need a good laugh and
a great read. I loved it!!


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