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Max And The Cats A Novel
Max Schmidt grew up in the stockroom of his father's fur store, cloaked among the foxes, minks, and leopards, hiding from the glaring eyes of a stuffed tiger atop the wardrobe. It is here he dreams of traveling to distant lands; and here, as a young man, he begins an affair with the store's married clerk.
Forced to flee when his lover's husband discovers the affair and de...more
Forced to flee when his lover's husband discovers the affair and de...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
December 25th 2003
by Plume
(first published 1981)
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In Life of Pi, Yann Martel makes an allusion to Dr. Moacyr Scliar’s Max And The Cats A Novel by thanking him for the “spark of life”, yet he claims to have only read a review of the story, not the story itself, and had admired the premise.
There is an episode, among several other cat experiences, about a shipwrecked zoo jaguar and the boy, Max, afloat together in a dinghy. It really does seem like the same scene as Pi and the tiger, but from there the similarities fade quickly.
I think Martel’s fo...more
There is an episode, among several other cat experiences, about a shipwrecked zoo jaguar and the boy, Max, afloat together in a dinghy. It really does seem like the same scene as Pi and the tiger, but from there the similarities fade quickly.
I think Martel’s fo...more
Jun 28, 2010
Melinda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Any young adult over the age of 16, and people who love cats and Yann Martel
Recommended to Melinda by:
Douglas Ord
So after all the controversy about Beatrice and Virgil and Life of Pi by Yann Martel and did he or did he not plagiarize Mr. Moacyr Scliar I decided to read Max and the Cats.
It is very short, but covers most of one man's lifetime. It's really a novella. And a very sweet one at that.
Yes, images, ideas and even words were taken from Max and the Cats to create both of Yann Martel's popular books, but I don't know anything about plagiarism laws.
What I do know is that Max and The Cats is a well writ...more
It is very short, but covers most of one man's lifetime. It's really a novella. And a very sweet one at that.
Yes, images, ideas and even words were taken from Max and the Cats to create both of Yann Martel's popular books, but I don't know anything about plagiarism laws.
What I do know is that Max and The Cats is a well writ...more
4 likes · like · see review
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In the dedication of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, he credits Moacyr Scliar as inspiration for that book. In an interview, Mr. Martel insists that he never read this book, but had read a synopsis which inspired his own novel. However, the similarities are more than striking and readers who enjoyed Life of Pi should also read this book to decide for themselves. If anything it is interesting to read 2 books with similarly odd setups (a boy trapped on a boat with a wild tiger) and see the different dir...more
3 likes · like · see review
Jun 23, 2012
Hrh_ga_2189
added it
Easy enough to say I found this because of Life of Pi. I would. love to comment on this book, but cannot seem to do so without wondering at Yann Martel for his "spark of life" for not only L.O.P, but also for Beatrice and Virgil. Both novels have a "feel" of Max and the Cats to them. But. anyways -
I really couldn't find myself responding to the story. Frida comes across as conniving but droll. Max - poor Max seems caught acting like a small child for. the entirety of the novel. Or, well. There...more
I really couldn't find myself responding to the story. Frida comes across as conniving but droll. Max - poor Max seems caught acting like a small child for. the entirety of the novel. Or, well. There...more
I'm giving this book extra credit for having the exact opposite qualities of Life of Pi, which I hated. Where Life of Pi felt precious, pretentious, contrived, belabored, forced, overly long, badly written, uninteresting, unoriginal, and pointless, Max and the Cats was a quick, fresh little story that kept me engaged and consistently surprised me all the way through.
I never would've picked up this very slim, out-of-print book if I hadn't been assigned it for class, and nothing in a description o...more
I never would've picked up this very slim, out-of-print book if I hadn't been assigned it for class, and nothing in a description o...more
Mar 27, 2013
Martha Toll
added it
Here's my feature discussing Max and the Cats.
http://www.washingtonindependentrevie...
For Passover, Fresh New Takes on “People of the Book”
Martha Toll
March 27, 2013
The escape from oppression into a vast diaspora is a theme that has preoccupied Jewish writers from Exodus to modern times: here are a few titles that treat this subject with refreshing originality.
Spring heralds the holiday of Passover, in which Jews celebrate their escape from bondage during ancient times. We receive the Passover...more
http://www.washingtonindependentrevie...
For Passover, Fresh New Takes on “People of the Book”
Martha Toll
March 27, 2013
The escape from oppression into a vast diaspora is a theme that has preoccupied Jewish writers from Exodus to modern times: here are a few titles that treat this subject with refreshing originality.
Spring heralds the holiday of Passover, in which Jews celebrate their escape from bondage during ancient times. We receive the Passover...more
I read about all the hullabaloo around this book, as I was reading this book. I've been wanting to read Life of Pi, and I'm going to, but I hope it will be a lot more interesting than this book. It has its moments, it starts off well and interesting and it ends with a nice climax but the whole scene with the jaguar and all that middle is so boring. I literally had to slog through it. The main character is not an appealing protagonist, as a matter of fact there is none in the story. The magical r...more
I picked up this book after talking to a friend about Life of Pi which I read several years ago and enjoyed a lot. I was curious to see which way Scliar's story would go and I have to say that aside from the very obvious similarities between the stories, this one takes quite a different road. That said, I still enjoyed it quite a bit and since it is such a short book and at least the translation is very easy to read, it really takes no time to finish. The story was lacking a little bit of depth...more
Max Schmidt, the title character of Moacyr Scliar's novelette Max and the Cats, has an uneasy relations with felines. No thanks to the preserved and stuffed Bengal tiger in his father's fur shop in Berlin: a fixture of pride for his father Hans, who named the shop after the beast; and a source of fear for the young Max, who would have nightmares because of the taxidermic display. Despite the fact that the tiger was a regular sight in the store for Max, nothing ever prepared him for the sudden tu...more
4 likes · like · see review
Feb 25, 2012
Amy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
around-the-world-challenge
I picked this up after I heard about the controversy surrounding this novella and Life of Pi. I had read Pi first and had mixed feelings about it. This was more cut and dry. I liked that. It was also a good little novel filled with symbolism (which I also like).
Max has encounters with 3 different felines, each representing a piece of his life or past that he must confront. Quick, interesting read.
Max has encounters with 3 different felines, each representing a piece of his life or past that he must confront. Quick, interesting read.
It is a short, odd little book. I didn't dislike it, but I can't say that I really liked it either. It seemed more like an outline of a book, something that was a first draft and needed to be fleshed out. The ideas and the characters and the voice are all there, but just not in a fulfilling way.
An interesting little story of a German and some "felins". However, I was a bit disappointed by the ending, I thought it a bit too rushed.
This is supposed to be the book that has inspired Life of Pi...
This is supposed to be the book that has inspired Life of Pi...
Reading an article about The Life of Pi by Yann Martel lead me to read this amazing novella. Well worth the read if you can find a copy.
1 like · like · see review
I found this book in a used book store for five dollars. I read the first page or two, and was intrigued enough to buy it. It stayed interesting for the first chapter or two.... interesting premise, Germany in the early 30s... and then suddenly it stopped making any sense. The main character.... has to move to Brazil! Because...... his girlfriend said so! Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, because I put it down right there... I don't know. It's not worth it to me to try again, what with...more
An entire life in 99 pages. Seemed overly simplistic to me. No real character development. A long short story at best.
Maybe not his best, but that doesn't justify Yann Martel's nerve to say he's a minor author, having stolen his idea...
It told far more than it showed.
Filled with history, magical realism, humour and psychology, this was a captivating novella that encourages the reader to contemplate. Scliar has a masterful talent of portraying the protagonists different thought processes through id, ego and superego.
www.booksnakereviews.blogspot.com
www.booksnakereviews.blogspot.com
What a strange little book. It reads like a study guide. I was disappointed not to see more cats. I guess it's an allegory for many things but I'm glad Max won through in the end, even if it feels incomplete. Max may have been paranoid but I'm sure he was correct about Hilde's husband.
Now here's a text with some very strong symbolism packed into an itty bitty book divided into 3 sections--worth the read!
interesting writing. Was only 99 pages. Ended too quickly for my taste. Also I am involved in animal rights activism and this book was definitely not geared towards that but I don't expect everyone to believe what I believe.
Interesting companion piece to Yann Martel's "Life of Pi," especially since it is the source material from which the bestseller was drawn.
Save your time and money. If you are interested in a story of a boy at sea with a big cat, try Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
Review deste livro aqui.
This was a nice read. Easy read, with a nice ebb and flow to Max's character.
If you enjoyed "Life of Pi", you'll probably enjoy this... as it is the original!
Jun 16, 2013
Jordan
marked it as to-read
Jun 09, 2013
Mark
marked it as to-read
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Moacyr Jaime Scliar (born March 23, 1937) is a Brazilian writer and physician.
Scliar is best known outside Brazil for his 1981 novel Max and the Cats (Max e os Felinos), the story of a young man who flees Berlin after he comes to the attention of the Nazis for having had an affair with a married woman. Making his way to Brazil, his ship sinks, and he finds himself alone in a dinghy with a jaguar w...more
More about Moacyr Scliar...
Scliar is best known outside Brazil for his 1981 novel Max and the Cats (Max e os Felinos), the story of a young man who flees Berlin after he comes to the attention of the Nazis for having had an affair with a married woman. Making his way to Brazil, his ship sinks, and he finds himself alone in a dinghy with a jaguar w...more
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“Falava de Ego, jovem artesão que fabricava lindíssimos bonecos, e dos seres que o atormentavam: Id, anão fescenino e peludo (espécie de curupira); Superego, autoritário e aristocrático patrão. Depois de um dia de estafante trabalho, Ego deitava-se mas não podia dormir: Id vinha do porão e punha-se a dançar em torno ao catre, fazendo caretas obscenas. Ego levantava-se e seguia o anão pelos campos, até o que
parecia ser a boca de um buraco de tatu, mas era na realidade a entrada para o fabuloso palácio subterrâneo da Fada Morgana. Nos grandes salões iluminados por tochas bailavam, diante dos olhos maravilhados de Ego, moças loiras e nuas. Estendiam-lhe os braços, mas, quando o rapaz ia se atirar a elas, surgia Superego, com seu fraque, sua cartola, seus lábios finos. A um sinal de sua bengala de castão de prata as bailarinas sumiam. Ele então se punha a zurzir o pobre Ego, repetindo monotonamente, não pecarás, não pecarás. O final era propositadamente otimista, com Ego livrando-se de seus algozes e casando com a Fada Morgana.”
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parecia ser a boca de um buraco de tatu, mas era na realidade a entrada para o fabuloso palácio subterrâneo da Fada Morgana. Nos grandes salões iluminados por tochas bailavam, diante dos olhos maravilhados de Ego, moças loiras e nuas. Estendiam-lhe os braços, mas, quando o rapaz ia se atirar a elas, surgia Superego, com seu fraque, sua cartola, seus lábios finos. A um sinal de sua bengala de castão de prata as bailarinas sumiam. Ele então se punha a zurzir o pobre Ego, repetindo monotonamente, não pecarás, não pecarás. O final era propositadamente otimista, com Ego livrando-se de seus algozes e casando com a Fada Morgana.”
