"Cat Person" and Other Stories

Written by Kristen Roupenian

Narrated by Kristen Roupenian, Aubrey Plaza, Jayme Mattler and 10 more

*Includes the story “Cat Person”—now a major film*

A compulsively readable collection of short stories that explore the complex—and often darkly funny—connections between gender, sex, and power across genres.

“These stories are sharp and perverse, dark and bizarre, unrelenting and utterly bananas. I love them so, so much.” —Carmen Maria Machado, National Book Award Finalist and author of Her Body and Other Parties

“Kristen Roupenian isn’t just an uncannily great writer, she also knows things about the human psyche…The world has made a lot more sense since reading this book.” —Miranda July, New York Times bestselling author

Previously published as You Know You Want This, “Cat Person” and Other Stories brilliantly explores the ways in which women are horrifying as much as it captures the horrors that are done to them. Among its pages are a couple who becomes obsessed with their friend hearing them have sex, then seeing them have sex…until they can’t have sex without him; a ten-year-old whose birthday party takes a sinister turn when she wishes for “something mean”; a woman who finds a book of spells half hidden at the library and summons her heart’s desire: a nameless, naked man; and a self-proclaimed “biter” who dreams of sneaking up behind and sinking her teeth into a green-eyed, long-haired, pink-cheeked coworker.

Spanning a range of genres and topics—from the mundane to the murderous and supernatural—these are stories about sex and punishment, guilt and anger, the pleasure and terror of inflicting and experiencing pain. These stories fascinate and repel, revolt and arouse, scare and delight in equal measure. And, as a collection, they point a finger at you, daring you to feel uncomfortable—or worse, understood—as if to say, “You want this, right? You know you want this.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jan 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781508266914

Kristen Roupenian

Kristen Roupenian se graduó en el Barnard College, se doctoró en Literatura en Harvard y tiene un máster de Escritura de la Universidad de Michigan. Su cuento «Cat Person», publicado en el New Yorker, se hizo viral, alcanzó repercusión internacional y dio pie a numerosos artículos de opinión. Lo estás deseando es su primer libro.

Reviews for "Cat Person" and Other Stories

[Amber Schroer · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think every reader will walk away seeing this book as either a 1 or a 5 because it's all about perception and just like the "Yanni/Laurel" or "Blue/Yellow Dress" debacle - you'll either love it or hate it; find it smartly humorous or overtly pretentious and finally see it overall as fun or dark and disturbing read. Now think about that for a second?
Rarely does any book - let alone a collection of essays - create such a dichotomy between it's readers on the book as a whole based on the reviews and honestly was the reason I read it. Funny enough whether you are on the side that felt this was a "dark" and disturbing book, shocked the other side - people like me who had to make sure we were talking about the same book because I don't know how anyone wouldn't walk away laughing or at least left thinking (positively nonetheless) on the collection as a whole! So you too need to read it and ask yourself when finished if the book as a whole was dark or humorous?

[Kyla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Allegedly these stories were about power dynamics, usually in terms of sex and gender. I felt uncomfortable and often grossed out, so while the stories were well written, I had no joy in reading them. I don't think fiction always has to be fun or pretty, but these seemed to be about making the reader uncomfortable for its own sake; about 'exploring these ideas', without drawing any conclusions. Some may enjoy this, but it's not for me.

[Jennifer Thesing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like dark novels, you'll enjoy this book. It's interesting for sure.

[Marja Heikkinen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Damn, this woman can write but these short stories are dark af. Really grim stories revealing the ugly, hidden corners of human soul. All these stories seem to be about twisted power dynamics of human relationships. They're interesting but not pleasant in any way. I did chuckle for the dark humor at times, but I didn't enjoy listening them. The narrators were overall pretty good, though. I had read The Cat Person previously when it was published in The New Yorker, and it was one of my favorites in this collection as well. I think the narrators had a huge impact on how I found the individual short stories.

[elizabethdx · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are a couple of superb stories in here, but the quality is so extremely uneven that I can't help imagining a shortsighted agent or editor rushing a collection into print after the extraordinary attention paid to Roupenian's story "Cat People" when it appeared in the New Yorker last year. A lot of the stories read like creative-writing class assignments, lacking in sophistication and depth. If Roupenian keeps writing, and I hope she does, she may wince when she looks back at this book.

[Nate Vaughan · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Looks ghastly. Utter negativity without any redeeming points to it.

[Kieran Beckford · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some stories I had to skip . Some were really funny. None were scary or thrilling.

[Rebecca Callaghan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Highlights of this Collection: “The Boy in the Pool” “Bad Boy” “Scarred”

This is a stellar collection of short stories from an up and coming writer with a knack for horror and an almost hilariously accurate ability to render the human sexual experience in all it’s awkward glory. There are certainly a few duds in this one that keep it from getting all five stars (I’m looking at you, The Night Runner) but this collection was always an engaging, psychosexual gut punch. I have the attention span of a gnat and I blew through these stories in a week.

Hiring numerous actors to do the readings was an inspired choice, because surprisingly one of the worst performances on the audiobook was from the author herself. Featured in the last story of the collection “Biter”, her seemingly flippant and disinterested delivery works well for the last story, which is a downright hilarious tale , but had she read the entire book I confess I might not have made it past even the first story. Aubrey Plaza proves to be the standout in regards of performance. Utilizing her iconically monotone delivery in “Bad Boy”, She renders a couple’s descent from troubling kink into full blown sexual violence with hauntingly convincing escalation.

[Maksim Kokushkin · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Rape is just simply not entertaining and yet that's what begins book.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

really creepy collection along the lines of Shirley Jackson or Joyce Carol Oates - unfortunately my least favorite story was the longest

[arosoff-513117 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like a lot of people I read this because of "Cat Person," which I thought was a good story. The collection feels like it got rushed to publication to capitalize on the hype. Too many of the stories feel gratuitously mean. There's no point to it, no humor, no character development--it's shocking for its own sake. They read like she's trying too hard to replicate the same feeling.

There are some positives--"Look at Your Game, Girl" effectively conjures up atmosphere and the feelings of the protagonist, and "The Good Guy" gradually peels back the layers of the narrator's self delusion, though it goes on too long. Roupenian isn't untalented, but the stories here are too forced.

[boredgames · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Uneven quality, needlessly cruel stories, derivative and pulpy

[rdhawk6886 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This brilliantly examines the ways in which women can be horrifying as much as it captures the horrors that are done to them. Spanning a range of genres and topics—from the mundane to the murderous and supernatural—these are stories about sex and punishment, guilt and anger, the pleasure and terror of inflicting and experiencing pain. These stories fascinate and repel, revolt and arouse, scare and delight in equal measure. And, as a collection, they point a finger at you, daring you to feel uncomfortable—or worse, understood—as if to say, “You want this, right? You know you want this.”

[jnmegan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When “Cat Person” appeared in 2018 in the New Yorker, Kristen Roupenian was immediately caught up in a fervor of critical attention. Her short story resonated strongly with readers who clamored for more information about Roupenian and scoured for any other works she may have produced. You Know You Want This, due for release in January 2019, addresses this demand by collecting eleven additional stories written by the popular author. “Cat Person” remains the strongest of the lot, but this book contains some other strong entries as well. Roupenian seems most comfortable constructing the contemporary stories, like “Look at Your Game Girl” and “The Good Guy,” addressing themes of self-respect and miscommunication between the sexes. She also experiments with some traditional forms of fairy tales, folklore, and the occult to a varying degree of success, as in “Scarred” and “The Mirror, the Bucket and the Thigh Bone.” Some readers may be put off by the eroticism and sexual violence contained in a few of the stories, but its inclusion is not excessive or gratuitous and has a purpose in terms of the thematic objectives. You Know You Want This proves that Kristen Roupenian is not a one-hit author but an interesting and strong new voice for these times.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an objective review.