Summary & Book Review of Georges Simenon’s The Cat

Marguerite Doise, a widow, married Emile Bouin, a widower, because she pitied him. It seemed the spouses loved their pets more than they did each other. He hated her parrot while she hated his cat.

When Emile was ill, his cat refused to eat food Marguerite prepared for it. One day, it fell ill and died. Emile suspected Marguerite of poisoning his cat, because a tin of old poison had been shifted from its original place on the shelf.

Emile was so stressed that he could not control himself. One day, when Marguerite was out of the room, he pulled out some feathers from her parrot’s tail.

Marguerite had her vet take it away for treatment but it didn’t survive. It was returned to her as a stuffed parrot.

The couple’s relationship deteriorated and soon they were no longer on speaking terms. They blamed each other for the demise of their pets.

When Marguerite invited Madame Martin home for tea, Emile felt strongly about the intrusion into his privacy. He later asked Nellie, a bar owner, for permission to stay in her spare room. He packed his suitcase and left Marguerite.

One day, when Marguerite happened to walk past Nellie’s bar, she saw Emile there. After that day, she often stalked Emile at his new place. He packed his suitcase and moved back to Marguerite house, but he was too late. She was suddenly taken while undressing in her bedroom.

Emile too, became suddenly very ill. He next came to consciousness in a hospital.

My favorite quotes in The Cat

You forget that I am a woman and that a woman always has the last word,a nd that a woman lives two or three years longer than a man…

(Simenon, p. 17)

That quote is generally true but Marguerite was an uncommon woman. She was thrifty and ate like a bird, excusing herself for having a small appetite. Eventually, she succumbed to her poor health, in her loneliness, when there was no one to watch over her. I think the author deliberately made her expire before her husband, even though he was a few years older than her, to emphasize that nothing is set in stone. Common observations may not necessarily run true when there are contrary circumstances that thwart the tradition.

A second favorite quote is when Marguerite responded to learning Emile called his alley cat Joseph. She said:

I don’t think its appropriate to call an animal after a saint. (Simenon, p. 43)

I think it was good for Marguerite to take her stand and express her opinion. I also share that opinion. However, Emile justified his choice by saying he could not “unchristian” the cat after naming him.

Georges Simenon named this book The Cat, because he wanted to make it clear that the cat occupied a major place in the couple’s marriage. This comes to my choice of my third favorite quote.

It was the cat, Marguerite and only the cat,that was the focus of her hostility. (Simenon, p. 43)

Marguerite said that she never liked cats and suggested that Emile give the cat away. He had mistakenly assumed that his new wife would accept Joseph. This reminded me of the idiom, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. You can’t teach an old woman new tricks like tolerating and befriending a cat.

What this book reminded me

This story reminds me of another idiom; “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.” Emile led Marguerite to his cat but couldn’t make her like him.

Three reasons to read this book:

(1) The author wanted to show how important it was to get to know a potential spouse well, before committing to marriage. Birds of a feather stick together. Spouses should share common interests and likes. Emile likes his cat but Marguerite hates it. She loves her parrot but Emile hates it.

(2) Pity is not enough reason to marry somebody. Marguerite thought she married Emile because she pitied Emile. In reality, her pity was insufficient to make her overcome her hatred of his cat.

(3) You are what you eat. Take care of your health. If you eat like a bird, you’ll become as weak and frail as a bird. Marguerite used to tell people she eats like a bird, to derail their thinking that she could be stingy to spend money. She always reinforced her habit of eating sparingly and that became her obsession. She may have been suffering from anorexia.

My rating for this book:

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

There is dark humor, comedy, and some sadism.

This book is good for:

cat lovers, &

parrot lovers.

Both the cat and parrot received love from their respective owners.

One word review of The Cat:

Misfits

One sentence review of The Cat:

My contribution: The pets reflected their owners’ personalities and they would never have gotten along harmoniously.

My family member’s opinion: Emile should not have married as he was not suitable to be a husband.

Selling points of this book:

The strong messages should be observed. Mutual respect can evaporate when the individual’s psychological health deteriorates.

Doubts about what caused the cat’s death

Marguerite lied to Emile about the cat eating its food which she had prepared for it. This made him lose his respect and trust in her.

Emile forgot a very important point which would have exonerated Marguerite from suspicion of poisoning Joseph the cat. It never ate food from anybody, except from Emile. The author repeated this when he wrote how Joseph refused to eat food prepared by Marguerite. However, when Emile took the bowl, remixed the food to pretend he prepared it, Joseph ate its cat food. Joseph thought that since Emile touched the food, he was the one who prepared it so it trusted Emile and ate the food seemingly prepared by him.

Since Joseph would only eat from Emile, it would never have eaten food prepared by Marguerite. How could she have poisoned Joseph? Unless the events were not written in chronological order and Joseph’s cause of death was from the bowl of food originally prepared by Marguerite.

Emile didn’t do his own forensic investigation. He could have kept some of Joseph’s vomit and sent it to the vet for a post-mortem. He could have sent Joseph’s body to the vet for a post-mortem. He has no proof that Joseph died from poisoning. He jumped to his own conclusions that Marguerite must have poisoned it.

If you want to see cats in original artwork in mixed media, please visit the link –

https://artmater.com/summary-of-cats-in-mixed-media-artworks/

I bought this book cover: