Translated by Roger Senhouse (Gigi) and Antonia White (The Cat).
I wasn’t sure what to read for this year’s Reading the Meow (a yearly cat-themed reading event hosted by Mallika), but then I came across this pair of stories by the French author Colette – Gigi, first published in 1933, and The Cat, which first appeared in 1944 as La Chatte. I’ve never read anything by Colette and have been intending to for a long time, so I thought this would be a good opportunity. Only the second story fits the Reading the Meow theme, but as this Vintage Classics edition includes both, I’m reviewing Gigi here as well.
I’ll start with The Cat, which is novella length and follows a young newly married couple, Alain and Camille. Alain, an only child, has grown up at the centre of his mother’s world and although he finds his new wife attractive, he doesn’t feel ready to leave behind the comforts of his family home to embark on a new life with her. This is frustrating for Camille, particularly after they move temporarily into a friend’s apartment and she discovers that Alain keeps sneaking back home to visit his mother and his beloved Russian Blue cat, Saha. Alain misses Saha so much that eventually she comes to live with them and from this point it becomes obvious that there’s only room for one female in Alain’s heart – and it’s not Camille! As the days go by, Camille grows more and more jealous of her husband’s cat until she finally decides that she needs to take action…
I found this a dark, unsettling story and although it’s also quite a simple one on the surface, there’s a lot of psychological depth. Camille and Alain are complete opposites in terms of personalities – Alain is quiet, sensitive and introverted, while Camille is lively and outgoing – and they begin to irritate each other as soon as they’re married. They have very different outlooks on life, with Camille being ambitious and forward-thinking and Alain struggling to move on and leave his childhood behind. Saha has been his companion for many years and is his last connection to the safety and security of his past, so Camille finds herself competing not just against the cat, but also everything the cat represents. I suspect she and Alain would have discovered their incompatibility anyway, but Saha’s presence makes it happen much more quickly!
Gigi is about half the length of The Cat and is a much lighter story. The title character, Gilberte (known as Gigi), is fifteen years old, that awkward age where you’re not quite an adult and not quite a child. Her mother is preoccupied with her career as a singer in a Parisian music hall and has left most of Gigi’s upbringing to her grandmother and Aunt Alicia, who are grooming her for life as a courtesan, like themselves. With Gigi’s mother, who works for a living, as a warning of what happens if a woman fails to find a wealthy man to support her, Gigi is being educated in all the skills her grandmother and aunt consider necessary for her future – dancing, table manners, rolling cigars and knowing the value of expensive jewels. The only man currently in Gigi’s life on whom she could try out these skills is family friend Gaston Lachaille. Grandmother and Alicia begin making plans for Gigi to become Gaston’s mistress, but it seems Gigi herself has other ideas!
Gigi is fun to read (if you ignore the morals of two older women pushing a fifteen-year-old girl into a relationship with a thirty-three-year-old man) and is a story about choosing your own way in life and doing what you want to do rather than what other people think you should do. It’s certainly a more uplifting story than The Cat, although I personally found The Cat more interesting and a perfect choice for Reading the Meow.
Have you read either of these stories? What else should I read by Colette?
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Book 1/20 of 20 Books of Summer
She Reads Novels 
Love La Chatte (as someone whose ex was jealous of my cat). And of course Colette is famous for having cats of her own.
I’m glad you enjoyed La Chatte too. I thought Colette’s own love and understanding of cats came through strongly in that story.
I love the film version of Gigi!
I think the film had a lot added to it, as the story is so short it’s barely even novella length!
Hello from France,
Her writing style is really beautiful in french, I do not know how it is translated in english and hope it is as good as in the original version. You should read “Cheri” maybe ?
Love your blog, thank you for all this generous sharing !
Kind regards,
Virginie from Normandie
I thought these translations were very good, but I’m sure it would be better to read her work in the original French.
Thanks for your kind words about my blog! I’m glad you like it.
I’ve never read Colette, I don’t know why. This pairing sounds a good place to start, but I think I have my late mum’s copy of Cheri on my shelves. (#WITmonth in August perhaps?)
Colette would be perfect for #WITMonth. Maybe Cheri would be a good place to start as well, but I think with these stories being so short they gave me a good idea of her style without having to commit to something longer.
Thanks for this review, Helen. This was a Collette story I was unaware of–I have read one of her Claudine books but too long ago to remember much. I’ve seen the Gigi film, and from your thoughts now think I should look up the book too.
The Cat does sound a darker story but interesting in the themes that it explores through the cat. Thomasina which I just revisited with Emma also delves into the jealously theme for Mr MacDhui can’t stand his daughter bestowing emotion on a mere cat!
Incidentally a lighter hearted cat book from Collette is Barks and Purrs (available via Project Gutenberg), told in dialogue form by Toby the dog and Kiki the demure (cat) as they talk about their lives and relationship with their humans!
I would like to read the Claudine books. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to get around to trying Colette!
The Cat is quite a dark story, but I enjoyed it and it was perfect for Reading the Meow as the cat is an important character from beginning to end. Barks and Purrs also sounds interesting – thanks!
Karen just reviewed Barks today!
I love Colette, but I haven’t read these for ages – I did consider The Cat for this month, but I’m trying to re-read her books in chronological order. As for morals, well you won’t get ones which align to modern views in her books, but she is nevertheless a truly wonderful author and I recommend everything she wrote! (Break of Day was my first by her, and I still adore it).
Yes, it’s unfair to expect modern attitudes from older books. I’m definitely planning to read more by Colette, so I’m pleased you would recommend everything she wrote!
I’ve only read The Vagabond by Collette, but I remember liking it. I’d like to read Gigi sometime.
The Vagabond sounds like a good one. I’m glad you liked it.
I’ve never actually read Gigi, although I’ve seen the film umpteen times.
I think the story is still worth reading, but there’s a lot more to the film!
I only know of Gigi from the film, and all I remember of the film was Maurice Chevalier’s song and vague images of Leslie Caron in the title role. Both these tales sound like something I could lap up easily as an introduction to Colette’s work, so thanks for this fine introduction!
I do think these two stories are a good introduction – first of all, they’re short, so allow you to try her work without making a bigger commitment, but they’re also very different from each other in tone and subject. I would definitely recommend either or both of them!
I rather fancy getting a copy of this now to read for Paris in July!
In theory I like the sound of The Cat with its themes of jealousy and obsession but considering the target of Camille’s malice it may be a bit too uncomfortable a read for me. I’m not sure about Gigi either but I’m glad you enjoyed them both.
It was definitely a bit uncomfortable to read and I worried about the cat all the way through, but I enjoyed the story overall. I can understand why it and Gigi might not particularly appeal to you, though.
I want to start reading Colette and have a copy of Cheri in readiness but I’ve been slow to pick it up, I feel a bit more enthused now thank you!
It has taken me a long time to finally get round to picking up one of her books as well. I hope you like Cheri.
I’ve had a look and it’s this one Gigi!
Great that you were able to take part in Reading the Meow event again 😺
I love this event and am always surprised by how many books about cats there are!