The Cat Who Went to Paris and A Cat Abroad

Library Journal

Librarians have already been charmed by Scottish fold cats via those literary trademark kitties, Baker and Taylor. Now the reading public is about to be introduced to the ``folds.'' Gethers, a book publisher, is your typical cat hater who had a conversion after receiving Norton. Norton enjoys everything the average cat disdains--riding in a car, airplane, boat; walking on the beach; and interacting with strangers. Gethers's almost excessive devotion to Norton may puzzle some readers, but most cat lovers will be entertained by the gregarious antics of globe-trotting, party-animal Norton. Comparison will be made to Cleveland Amory's Cat Who Came for Christmas ( LJ 10/1/87), but Gethers has a more contemporary lifestyle and writing style. Cat lovers at public libraries will demand this title, and as librarians we need to share our own infatuation with Scottish folds with our readers. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/91

He's back as a celebrity now--Norton the adorable Scottish fold cat whose adventures were chronicled by Gethers in The Cat Who Went to Paris ( LJ 9/1/91). Norton the star now dines on Pounce pizza prepared by superstar chef Wolfgang Puck, stays in a famous New Orleans hotel that has a no-pets policy, tours the United States on the TV talk-show circuit, and receives fan mail and photos from humans as well as cats. Most of this book describes Norton and Peter's year in Provence, where Norton's days in a beautiful 300-year-old country home are filled with naps in the garden, exploring the neighborhood, and more napping in the lap of his human. Gethers's writing style is amusing, although he also reflects occasionally on the mortality of his furry friend as well as his own. Readers who were previously charmed by Norton will be delighted with this book. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/93.-- Eva Lautemann, DeKalb Coll. Lib., Clarkston, Ga., Library Journal

New York Times Book Review

Publishers Weekly

Gethers, publisher of Villard Books, was an aileurophobe until he met the six-week-old Scottish Fold kitten, a gift from his friend Cindy. He capitulated immediately. From the beginning Norton exhibited extraordinary aplomb no matter where he was, or in whose company; he was sensitive, intelligent and always aware of what was happening. Norton accompanied Gethers everywhere--to the office, to parties, on business trips to Los Angeles and Paris, on weekends to Fire Island; hotel staff and airline personnel were eager to serve him. Like Cleveland Amory's cat, Polar Bear, Norton became a social arbiter who influenced his owner's love life. What a pet. What a tale. Illustrated. BOMC selection. (Sept.)

The line between cute and twee is easy to cross when writing a cat book, and Gethers steers a precarious course between the two. Then again, that may be the cat's doing. Norton, Gethers's Scottish Fold, lacks most of the feline foibles that would give him a certain universal resonance. The cat is told just once not to scratch the furniture in the 300-year-old house that Gethers rents for the year with girlfriend Janis and thereafter (remember, Crown classifies this as Nonfiction/Pets), Norton does not scratch the furniture . Norton runs away one time--but waits for Gethers to trot down the block and pick him up. For readers with real cats--psychotically territorial, determinedly sedentary and often a tad snitty--Norton will seem like a small dog who has had a lot of plastic surgery. On the other hand, Gethers sans chat is often funny, self-deprecating and loves food, which makes him a fitting guide to the over-chronicled byways of Southern France. As the former head of Villard and Random House editor-at-large, Gethers's recollections of the publication of his earlier book, The Cat Who Went to Paris , makes interesting reading for publishing types. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

Washington Post Book World