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Cat Rising #3
Babies, Bikes and Broads
Tragedy—and her brother’s midnight plea for help with his young twins—pulls Cat Hood back home to Galway, North Carolina, in the third book in the popular Cat Rising trilogy.
After five years in Scotland, the place where she’d expected to find both roots and family, Cat is still single (officially), turning forty, and perhaps even more confused and unsettled than when she left North Carolina.
There are good reasons to stay in Galway—and to leave: Her niece, just as angry and independent and contrary as Cat was at that age, is hardly welcoming. Eager as Cat was to reconnect with her best Galway friends, Lily and Hannah, she finds them nearly unrecognizable—and nearly intolerable—given the mad gusto with which they’ve embraced parenthood. And then there’s the reappearance of her high school sweetie and all the bitter memories—and current confusion—her very presence evokes.
But Scotland isn’t an easy answer either, and Cat begins to rethink her return when Isobel, once again, refuses to choose between her husband and Cat.
But one thing is clear: Wherever happiness lies, Cat, being Cat, will resist it with every ounce of her being.
Cynn Chadwick has made her home in the South for twenty years. Prior to earning her MA in literature and MFA in fiction at Goddard College, she worked for one of the first women in the United States to become a master carpenter, an experience that continues to inform her writing. She teaches creative writing. Visit her website at www.CynnChadwick.com.
After five years in Scotland, the place where she’d expected to find both roots and family, Cat is still single (officially), turning forty, and perhaps even more confused and unsettled than when she left North Carolina.
There are good reasons to stay in Galway—and to leave: Her niece, just as angry and independent and contrary as Cat was at that age, is hardly welcoming. Eager as Cat was to reconnect with her best Galway friends, Lily and Hannah, she finds them nearly unrecognizable—and nearly intolerable—given the mad gusto with which they’ve embraced parenthood. And then there’s the reappearance of her high school sweetie and all the bitter memories—and current confusion—her very presence evokes.
But Scotland isn’t an easy answer either, and Cat begins to rethink her return when Isobel, once again, refuses to choose between her husband and Cat.
But one thing is clear: Wherever happiness lies, Cat, being Cat, will resist it with every ounce of her being.
Cynn Chadwick has made her home in the South for twenty years. Prior to earning her MA in literature and MFA in fiction at Goddard College, she worked for one of the first women in the United States to become a master carpenter, an experience that continues to inform her writing. She teaches creative writing. Visit her website at www.CynnChadwick.com.
- GenresLGBTLesbian Fiction
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Cynn Chadwick
20 books14 followersCynn Chadwick was born and raised in New Jersey but has lived in the South for over twenty years. Earning both an MA in literature and an MFA in fiction at Goddard College in Vermont, Chadwick is currently a lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Prior to earning her degrees, she worked for one of the first women in the United States to become a master carpenter, an experience that continues to inform her writing.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 6, 2011
Oh dear. This is tricky because the author is a friend of a friend. Let me start by saying that despite my overall dislike of the book, something about it kept me reading.
This is the story of Cat, who returns home to Galway, NC, from Scotland to help her widower brother take care of his two kids. What she doesn't count on is her high-school crush and summer romance, Janey, also returning (from NJ). Cat harbors a grudge (20 years later) for Janey's having left her for grad school and marrying a man.
The writing is decent, but Chadwick has a habit of italicizing a lot of phrases and words to a point where it becomes distracting. There are also some editorial issues, like the two spellings of Mama - Mamma and Mama - especially toward the end of the book.
The story is really quite simple and formulaic and it would be enjoyable if the characters were not so brusque and/or contantly quoting platitudes. And the niece and nephew are obnoxious.
Most of my problem with the book, I think, comes from my political perspective. For starters, Galway must be some kind of lesbian haven to the point where it's in the south and relatively rural (or so it seems) and everyone's all accepting of everyone else. And apparently, Cat, who is around my age (41) was sleeping around with a lot of girls in high school. I wondered if she went to freaking Harvey Milk in NYC because even in relatively liberal NJ, back in the 1980s it was *not* cool to be a lesbian. Almost all the lesbians in the book are "beautiful" (as if there is only one kind of beautiful) and femme. There are fur coats, rabbits-feet good luck charms and a hunter who needs to be consulted about a Mama bear.
I think this book is actually a fantasy that attempts to populate an alternate United States with lesbians who just fit into the mainstream and it's all okay. This irritates me because while this book is fiction, it doesn't represent any kind of reality I'm aware of, and I do find it troubling that too many people regard the ability to have chilrend, whether through in vitro fertilization or adoption, and marraige, to be the pinnacle of what will constitute some kind of equality - as if being equal within a system of oppression is a good thing.
Basically this is fantasy of what some of us think life should be like for lesbians. But this vegan left-wing political dyke disagrees and is quite irritated by it. Too bad.
This is the story of Cat, who returns home to Galway, NC, from Scotland to help her widower brother take care of his two kids. What she doesn't count on is her high-school crush and summer romance, Janey, also returning (from NJ). Cat harbors a grudge (20 years later) for Janey's having left her for grad school and marrying a man.
The writing is decent, but Chadwick has a habit of italicizing a lot of phrases and words to a point where it becomes distracting. There are also some editorial issues, like the two spellings of Mama - Mamma and Mama - especially toward the end of the book.
The story is really quite simple and formulaic and it would be enjoyable if the characters were not so brusque and/or contantly quoting platitudes. And the niece and nephew are obnoxious.
Most of my problem with the book, I think, comes from my political perspective. For starters, Galway must be some kind of lesbian haven to the point where it's in the south and relatively rural (or so it seems) and everyone's all accepting of everyone else. And apparently, Cat, who is around my age (41) was sleeping around with a lot of girls in high school. I wondered if she went to freaking Harvey Milk in NYC because even in relatively liberal NJ, back in the 1980s it was *not* cool to be a lesbian. Almost all the lesbians in the book are "beautiful" (as if there is only one kind of beautiful) and femme. There are fur coats, rabbits-feet good luck charms and a hunter who needs to be consulted about a Mama bear.
I think this book is actually a fantasy that attempts to populate an alternate United States with lesbians who just fit into the mainstream and it's all okay. This irritates me because while this book is fiction, it doesn't represent any kind of reality I'm aware of, and I do find it troubling that too many people regard the ability to have chilrend, whether through in vitro fertilization or adoption, and marraige, to be the pinnacle of what will constitute some kind of equality - as if being equal within a system of oppression is a good thing.
Basically this is fantasy of what some of us think life should be like for lesbians. But this vegan left-wing political dyke disagrees and is quite irritated by it. Too bad.
January 10, 2009
I've read the first two books in this series, and waited a long time for this third novel from Cynn Chadwick. The first two were funny, touching, real.
Posted 1/10/2009: This wonderful novel, the third in the Cat Rising series, once again showcases author Cynn Chadwick's firm grasp of all those skill sets that make a good writer and a very good book.
The little mountain community of Galway is growing and changing, and some of those changes catch Cat Hood unprepared. Coming home to North Carolina after five years in Scotland, summoned by the news of her sister-in-law's death, Cat finds herself unable to adjust. She is not ready to let go of her life in Scotland, completely unwilling to help her brother raise his five-year-old twins, and uncertain that she has a place left in the circle of family and friends she left behind five years before. Cat begins with the assumption that it will be easier to do what she can and escape back to her life far away. Nothing is the same anyway. Even her best friend Lily is now a mother. Everywhere Cat looks, she sees babies. She doesn't even like kids.
Complicating matters, an old girlfriend offers Cat some temporary work. Cat is not in the least interested in resolving old issues or in renewing entanglements with Janey McDaniels. Lost in grief and alcohol, her brother is in no shape to be left alone with two small children. Cat's love life back in the UK seems to have died on its own.
Throw in a falling-down bar that was once Cat's favorite hangout, a wrecked motorcycle that once served to unite her brother and her, a growing attachment to her niece and nephew, and we find Cat is right back where she started, torn by ties to a place that once felt like home, and by feeling too well known by too many people when she isn't sure she knows herself all that well. Throw in a few more monkey wrenches and a fine mix of humor, lust, love, nostalgia, and growing pains, and what you get is a lovely novel that is a pleasure from start to finish.
Posted 1/10/2009: This wonderful novel, the third in the Cat Rising series, once again showcases author Cynn Chadwick's firm grasp of all those skill sets that make a good writer and a very good book.
The little mountain community of Galway is growing and changing, and some of those changes catch Cat Hood unprepared. Coming home to North Carolina after five years in Scotland, summoned by the news of her sister-in-law's death, Cat finds herself unable to adjust. She is not ready to let go of her life in Scotland, completely unwilling to help her brother raise his five-year-old twins, and uncertain that she has a place left in the circle of family and friends she left behind five years before. Cat begins with the assumption that it will be easier to do what she can and escape back to her life far away. Nothing is the same anyway. Even her best friend Lily is now a mother. Everywhere Cat looks, she sees babies. She doesn't even like kids.
Complicating matters, an old girlfriend offers Cat some temporary work. Cat is not in the least interested in resolving old issues or in renewing entanglements with Janey McDaniels. Lost in grief and alcohol, her brother is in no shape to be left alone with two small children. Cat's love life back in the UK seems to have died on its own.
Throw in a falling-down bar that was once Cat's favorite hangout, a wrecked motorcycle that once served to unite her brother and her, a growing attachment to her niece and nephew, and we find Cat is right back where she started, torn by ties to a place that once felt like home, and by feeling too well known by too many people when she isn't sure she knows herself all that well. Throw in a few more monkey wrenches and a fine mix of humor, lust, love, nostalgia, and growing pains, and what you get is a lovely novel that is a pleasure from start to finish.
August 14, 2011
The third in the Cat Rising series, Babies, Bikes, and Broads manages to be a touching story about the value of family without being smarmy or preachy. Cat returns to her southern hometown after five years in Scotland where she has been carrying on with a married woman. Summoned by the death of her sister-and-law and her brother who is now raising twins by himself, Cat comes to accept love in her life and realizes that she doesn’t need to run away. Cat’s romance and reconciliation of old love with her former flame Janey is almost secondary to the family elements of the story. The most vivid scenes are with Cat’s intrepid 5 year old niece MaKay, whose studied ambivalence towards her aunt is all the more endearing for her obvious affection. However, it was disappointing to see the ceaseless insistence that caring about family must mean caring about children, implying that Cat’s life was misspent not because she continually pursued unavailable women, but because she hadn’t had children.
The only disappointment was the last chapter, which felt too pat. Cat ruminates on her family history and the bitter life of Grandma Kate, who had a great influence on her and her brother. She recognizes her own tendency to run away in Kate’s life and realizes why Kate was so harsh to her brother. This last chapter was perhaps vital to the overall family theme, but it came across as the main character learning “A Very Important Lesson.”
The only disappointment was the last chapter, which felt too pat. Cat ruminates on her family history and the bitter life of Grandma Kate, who had a great influence on her and her brother. She recognizes her own tendency to run away in Kate’s life and realizes why Kate was so harsh to her brother. This last chapter was perhaps vital to the overall family theme, but it came across as the main character learning “A Very Important Lesson.”
May 22, 2009
Runner-up for the fourth annual Bywater Prize for Fiction.
As Cat helps her brother to rebuild his life, she starts to see that her own needs attention. That maybe it's time to acknowledge this is her home. That maybe it's time to leave behind the pain of the past.
As Cat helps her brother to rebuild his life, she starts to see that her own needs attention. That maybe it's time to acknowledge this is her home. That maybe it's time to leave behind the pain of the past.
July 24, 2012
The third (and I believe the last) in a series. Back to mediocre, and I really don't like to see a series that backslides at the end.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews