Stacey Yu's first novel, Kitten, is a peculiar, endearing fable about a young woman who identifies with her boyfriend's cat as she works to overcome codependency issues with him and her mother.
Chinese American Katie is a recent college graduate in Manhattan. Her work-study job has ended--leaving her with less than $50 in her bank account--and her roommate keeps reminding her the utilities payment is overdue. When Katie's boyfriend, James, invites her to stay at his parents' second home by the ocean for two weeks, it presents an opportunity to delay her job search. James is white and four years older, comes from money, and has a corporate job. That privilege cushions her, too. On vacation, he cooks for her and does all the driving, and when he learns about her rental crisis, he encourages her to move in with him. Katie bluntly admits her unhealthy attitude to herself: "I liked being with James because he made it easier for me to be alive."
Katie grew up the cosseted only child of a single mother. James is her first boyfriend, and the first time she sees the ocean is with him. James's family pet, Silver, is also the first cat she meets. James found Silver on the beach a decade before, and the cat regularly swims in the sea with her owners. Katie is "struck by the intensity of my affection for her"--somewhere between maternal instinct and envy of the cat's comfort and security. But she doesn't know how to care for a pet, and there are several near disasters when Silver eats things she shouldn't. At the same time, Katie starts to almost imitate Silver, such as by lapping at a bowl of milk and licking James during foreplay. "He wanted me to be his equal, and I wanted to be his pet," she thinks.
Yu maintains the uncomfortable ambiguity of the central relationships as literal realities and psychological explanations coalesce. That Katie's estranged mother's nickname for her is "Kitten" connects the novel's major elements. Katie begins to realize that she's not responsible for her mother's ill mental health (anorexia, extreme resistance to aging). By the end, she's cultivating independence and kick-starting her arrested emotional development. "I didn't want to be helpless anymore," she asserts.
A cross between If You Love It, Let It Kill You by Hannah Pittard and Rental House by Weike Wang, this debut is an offbeat charmer. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader, and blogger at Bookish Beck
Shelf Talker: In Stacey Yu's unconventional debut novel, a young woman starts to come to terms with her unhealthy relationships while on a beach vacation with her boyfriend and his cat.