The Cat Who Turned On And Off (1991) - Plot & Excerpts
CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!In the book The Cat Who Turned On and Off, Qwilleran, a journalist for the Daily Fluxion, moves into the upstairs apartment of an antique store in Junktown with his two Siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum. Junktown a rundown part of the city is filled to the brim with antique shops in old Victorian style houses. Qwilleran who mistakenly thinks he is going to do a piece on narcotics is assigned to cover the antiques, the antique dealers, and all their glory during Christmas. An ex-crime reporter with a severe dislike of antiques, he finds himself faced with the possibility of an unsolved homicide, but his boss won’t believe him and the cute antique dealer who he wants to ask to the Christmas party at the Press Club begs him to agree with the police and rule it an accident. Qwilleran with a knowing twitch in his famous moustache refuses to let the incident go, so even as secrets unravel and people die he searches for the truth. Koko, who refuses to help Qwilleran in his usual psychic way, leaves Qwilleran to find answers in the manuscript of the deceased Andrew Glanz that not-so-subtly describes the various characters who live in Junktown, the death of his new landlord and antique dealer Cornball Cobb, and the broken memories and half-truths of Mary Duckworth who is really Mary Duxbury daughter of a famous banker. Only at the end of the book when all the pieces of the mystery fall into place and Qwilleran can use his 20-20 hindsight does he see that Koko was helping him all along.I gave this book 2 stars because it was not as good as the other Cat Who… books I’ve read. The plot was interesting because I really wanted to know the truth about how Andy died, but the story itself did not suck me in like it usually does, perhaps because Koko and Yum Yum were locked in Qwilleran’s apartment and not as helpful as they usually are. But there were two things about this book that reminded me why I fell in love with the Cat Who… books. The first thing is Braun’s ability to make me connect to the characters. C.C. Cobb was not only an antiques dealer and Qwilleran’s landlord, but a man who truly cared about Junktown. His wish for Christmas was for Junktown to have a block party, but he couldn’t get around the red tape. C.C. tried with all his might to fix up Junktown, but “Mister, the city wants this neighborhood to decline, so the land-grabbers can get it and the grafters can get their cut” (141)! At some point in everybody’s live someone tells them “no” or has been brushed to the side and the conflict between Junktown and the city government is relatable enough for readers to agree with Cobb and connect with him.The second thing is the honest and accurate portrayal of life with two cats. Koko is a spoiled male Siamese who is recently joined by a demure female Yum Yum. While they get a long most of the time there are always those moments of fighting followed by calm as though nothing happened. “Koko gave a nasty growl, and Yum Yum broke away. Immediately Koko gave chase. The little female went up over the desk, round the Morris chair, under the tea table- with Koko in pursuit. Round and round the room they went…’Only a family quarrel,’ Qwilleran explained, jerking his head towards the cats. Koko and Yum Yum were sitting quietly in the Morris chair together. She was looking sweet and contented, and Koko was licking her face with affection” (132). As a cat owner I see this between my cats all the time, it’s hard to tell what causes these sudden flurries of fur, but for anyone who has cats this brief, honest, and accurate portrayal is sure to gather a smile and maybe a laugh.
У каждого, даже самого отпетого читаюши есть книги, которые он читает *в метро*. В большинстве случаев это небольшие книжки в стиле прочитать_и_забыть, в основном их читают для отвлечения, разгрузки мозга, и литературой их считать тяжеловато. Вот и я какое-то время назад купила три книжки по смешнючей цене, просто чтобы занять паузы между чем-то более-менее серьезным, и не уснуть в метро. И не прогадала ^^ Лилиан Джексон Браун — удивительно плодовитая писательница, она с 1966 (!) года успела накатать 30+ таких вот детективных книжечек, и все про журналиста (и по совместительству детектива) Квиллера и его кошулек — сиамцев Коко и Юм-Юм, без которых, безусловно, никакие преступления не были бы раскрыты. Ну, я всегда знала, что кошки имеют тенденцию видеть то, чего нам в жизни не разглядеть перед самым носом. Описание кошулек — прекрасное, я читала и умилялась :) В крохотный формат втиснуто целое расследование, с кучей персонажей, и соот-но, кучей подозреваемых, которых нужно вывести на чистую воду, и к каждому подобрать ключик. ЛДБ умудряется все это описать так, чтобы даже я (старадающая хроническим незапоминанием имен) начала делать ставки, кто же все-таки совершил преступление — и всего-то в маленькой книжечке карманного формата в 200-300 страничек. Прибавить к этому полное отсутствие кровавостей (которые так любят наши детективисты) — цены ей нет. Если не ждать чего-то запредельного от таких явно развлекательных книжек, то можно получить ни с чем не сравнимое удовольствие :)
What do You think about The Cat Who Turned On And Off (1991)?
Another of the early books in the series, and one before Qwill has received his inheritence and is the poor bachelor we came to love long before Pickax. Koko and Yum Yum are disappearing from his new apartment above Iris Cobb and her husband's antique store, and coming back with all kinds of clues to the recent murder of a successful antique dealer nearby. This book introduces 'Junktown', an area of the city Qwill is living in mainly funded for Antique stores. It has a bad reputation around the rest of the city, but in fact has a low crime rate.Another example of excellent writing, and I was glad to read another. Unfortunately, I only have three books left in this series to reread, two of which are out at my library, and the third is not available and it seems I've never read it (despite the fact I thought I had) So it could be a while before reviewing my next Cat Who book, but look out for it!
—Kirsti
As previously mentioned, I often catsit Maguire Dunlap who enjoys hearing a story read aloud. Today we finally finished The Cat Who Turned On and Off by the late great Lilian Jackson Braun. This is the third book in the series and I have read it many times before. Our beloved newspaperman Jim Qwilleran and cats Koko & Yum Yum were living the high life in a penthouse apartment but the owner died and the beginning of this story finds them slumming it in Junktown. The characters are just that, full of character and of course there is a murder for Koko to solve. The title refers to the fact that Koko turns the light on and off with his jaw because he needs his teeth cleaned. Yum Yum steals a toothbrush. A great comfort read!
—Jan
I know I usually criticize books without substance that are overly simple, but this one was actually really good. I read other "The Cat Who..." mysteries when I was a teenager and remembered liking them, but I wasn't sure how much I should attribute that to having less discerning literary tastes as a teenager or that the stories were actually good. Definitely, the latter. While there isn't much to the plot of this particular who-done-it, the pace is very good and, as a cat lover who is currently without cats, I appreciated reading about familiar cat-antics. There is quite a bit the cats do that is entirely far-fetched, but I can forgive the author that poetic license since this is, after all, fiction, and because her story is very entertaining.
—Natasha
