le plus beau du quartier

'Maddy, you don't read!'

This is my grandmother's complaint every time I visit her for a french tutorial.

(In many ways, being related to the person who tutors you has it's advantages, such as chocolate biscuits, informality and being doted upon. It also has its drawbacks, like brutal honesty and slamming the table when I forget to make verbal agreements. My grandmother would have to be one of the scariest french teachers I know)

...So, I'm reading. Apparently, it's one of the most effective ways to study for a language exam, so each year I receive a french book form ma grand-mère. Last year it was La Chatte by Colette. So, I'm making an attempt to read it. It's pretty much another story about jealousy and unrequited love. 'But how does a cat fit into all this?' you might ask. Well, it's essentially a love triangle between a young women, her husband and his cat. She loves him. He loves his cat. The cat sounds like it's on drugs.

The plot is simple; a young married couple move into their own apartment. However the husband misses his childhood cat terribly. He returns to his parents house to find the cat and bring her home to his wife. As it turns out, the cat represents the dreams and memories of childhood which he can't let go of, and so he loves her more than his wife. The wife is eventually overcome by jealousy and attempts to kill the cat, but fails. Learning of this, the husband leaves his young wife for his cat.

In a word: strange.

The author was pretty strange herself:

' je reve que j'épouse un très grand chat.' - Colette