Ruth Sims, author of the delightful and
best-selling The Phoenix offers a rare book reviewKing of Cats by Blake Fraina
Ruth Sims (website)
King of Catsby Blake Fraina
If a reader is looking for a light summer read, something with froth and fun, he won't find it between the pages of Blake Fraina's KING OF CATS. Superficially, the combined novellas are about "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll," as struggling young musicians stand on the brink of hitting it big. But the real story lies beneath, and is one of darkness, human tragedy, and waste.
This is not one story but five, one leading to the next, each dealing with the same main characters and their relationships to one another and to their lives. The stories are not told in chronological order.The first, "King of the Cats" (notice the difference in the title) takes place in 2002, "The Bargain" in 2001, "Kissing the Gunner's Daughter" in 1995, "My Father's House" in
2003, and "Hidden History" in 1987.
I am not going to write a detailed plot summary because I'm not good at it. No matter how excellent a book is, by the time I write a summary it soundslike a bad soap opera. And that is especially true of a complex book like this one. I also think it would spoil the sense of discovery that is an essential part of KING OF CATS. To quote the cover copy: "What makes a person fascinating? Is it what they hide or what they reveal? Is it who they are or who they appear to be?"
And not until you have finished the fifth book and find out why our rock'n' roll hero, guitarist Jimmy Lyons,is as he is, will you realize that almost no one in this book was as he appeared to be.
A baby-faced, talkative and naïve boy named Elliott has sex with strangers, isn't quite as much of a boy as he says and lies as easily and as often as he breathes.
Adam, a slightly pudgy singer, isn't gay. Just because he has sex with men and is totally and destructively in love with Jimmy Lyons and crazy with jealousy over Jimmy and Elliott doesn't mean he's gay. Does it?
Jimmy Lyons,stage name Jimmy Strange, is the main character in four of the five novellas, and the dominating force in the book. To the world, he's gorgeous, he's cool, he's laid back, he's .. In truth, he's anything but cool and laid back. If you keep a list of complicated characters, you can add Jimmy.
KING OF CATS covers Jimmy's life from age 13 to 29. When I first met Jimmy Lyons at the end of the first novella, I detested him. He was established in just a few words as being abusive to poor little Elliott. He is only in "King of the Cats" for a few paragraphs, but his presence explodes the linked-together novellas all over the place. Over the course of the other four stories, I went from disliking him to seeing him as exploited by a lot of people for their own purposes to disliking him again because he seemed to move into being exploitive himself, to feeling such understanding sorrow for him by the end, that I was in tears at least twice. That is good writing, people.
This is not a book for everyone. And, yes, someone who likes to nit-pick and look for such things will find some editorial issues. None of the errors lessen the breathtaking impact of the story/stories. KING OF CATS is one of those books that no reader can be neutral about. You're either going to love it or hate it. I think you can tell what I thought. Buy it, read it, and decide for yourself.
And I should confess: there are a few jelly smears on the pages because I couldn't put it down long enough to eat my lunch properly!