Waiting for Gertrude: A Graveyard Gothic

The premise of this novel, a jumble of famous personas reincarnated as cats in a French cemetery, sounds wacky if not absurd. Oscar Wilde pining after Jim Morrison; Sarah Bernhardt the famous three-legged ratter; what? But the book never dips into absurdity at all; it's really rather sweet and clever.

All of the cats are both perfectly cat-like and perfectly human. Alice B. Toklas, our main character, spends her days as a cook, but really she's just waiting for Gertrude to be reincarnated so they can rebuilld a new (feline) life together. Short and sweet, and sometimes Alice's pining just makes the reader ache; this book was a wonderful surprise for me.

Loved the clever and witty writing. A bit too much focus on the sex life of the cats for my taste, but the story of Alice waiting and planning for Gertrude's return to her in the next life ("translated") into a cat was certainly original, and interesting.

One of the most intriguing books I have ever read. A story of cats living in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, many of whom are "translations," or reincarnations of the humans buried there. The main narrator is Alice B. Toklas, who is, of course, waiting for Gertrude. The story is told through letters exchanged among the cats, extremely clever and wonderfully fluent poems, Alice's narration, and other devices. I've never quite read anything like it.

This book is a “graveyard gothic” set in Paris’ Pere-Lachaise cemetery where the famous inhabitants have been reborn as cats. And act like cats they do where much of the focus is on mating and birthing kittens. Alice B. Toklas sadly waits for the return of her beloved Gertrude Stein as a cat, which lends the title and main plot, but the book covers many other characters told in letters, poems, and whimsical narrative. Much of the writing emulates the style of the celebrated writers themselves. Among the cats in the cemetery:

Jim Morrison – a silent, brutish three-testicled cat who hovers on the feline conscience of the other cats.

Jean de la Fontaine – whose tour guide poems introduce the various characters and situations.

Oscar show more Wilde – who bears a hopeless amour for Jim Morrison, who never writes him back.

Isadora Duncan – still a dancer, sitting for a portrait for Modigliani and bearing his kittens.

Rossini – an aged senile cat who cannot remember he was once a composer.

Collette – a high-class Persian cat who followed a tomcat from her wealthy home to the cemetery. She teaches yoga.

Chopin – the composer is the Postmaster General of the cemetery where these cats seem to have learned how to write and write often.

Edith Piaf – kind of meanly portrayed as an old crank, she is a laundress.

Sarah Bernhardt – still an actress despite losing a leg. She’s also an excellent ratter.

Marcel Proust – a PI investigating several items stolen over the course of the narrative. show less

Many famous people are buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. This book is written with the idea that the feral cats roaming the grounds are actually the reincarnations of the graves' residents. The plot revolves around Alice B. Toklas as she waits for the reincarnation of Gertrude Stein to arrive. In the meantime there are side dramas involving Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Sarah Bernhardt, Chopin, and many more. I believe I would have gotten more out of this had I been more familiar with the works and attitudes of the characters in real life (Stein in particular), but it was still an enjoyable and very quick read.

Wonderful story.