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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2004)
■ Book review Poor plot makes this zany book fit for the litterbox Even randomly placed absurdities won't save the reader from the boredom supplied by author Willits BY RYAN MURPHEY PULSE REPORTER Cat people and fans of Shake speare now have something to bring them together: a common hatred of Musique Gourmet Classical Music _ Opera Broadway Filmscores CD's SACD'S DVD'S Open Noon - 5:20 Sundays Noon - 4:00 Closed Tuesdays Behind Bradfords o Across from Library 0 942 Olive St. gj FREE PARKING «■■■ 349-0461 Malcolm Willits and his literary abomination “Shakespeare’s Cat.” Once in a while, a book comes along that is so incredibly bad that reading it can cause both intense Need Cash? extra money for back-to-school expenses? 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I wished that I was read ing one of those by the end of this book. It is written in the form of a play, but after looking at the com pletely impractical (and absurdly lengthy) stage directions, it is safe to assume that it’s more of a satire, with out the wit. The story begins in Eureka, Calif., where a fictional woman named Amelia Carson was said to have built what is known as the Gingerbread Mansion. (The building actually exists but was built by a Norwegian immi grant, Doctor Hogan Ring, and in Fern dale, Calif., not Eureka.) Carson, a wealthy widow, dies and leaves all her earthly possessions to her many cats, some of who are apparently enlisted in a military force that pressed northward to vanquish Oregonians. Captain Lacroix, the leader of the feline army, recounts his victories against the “Grant’s Pass cavemen,” “Medford malcontents,” “predatory Coos Bay pi rates,” and other Oregonians, in an at tempt to woo Carson’s pampered fe line, Colette. The University even gets a mention when the Captain brags of crossing the Rouge River “to rid the land of heresies emanating from Eu gene’s seditious University. ” Shortly afterward, a mob of hu mans, apparently angered by the fact that Carson’s wealth was left to the Courtesy Malcom Willits'new book is a pitiful attempt at satire. cats, ransacks the mansion. The mili tary cats meet the advance and Cap tain Lacroix dies, not to be mentioned again until a very random ghost-wed ding occurs with no relevance to any thing else in the book. Colette then meets up with a cavorting tomcat, imaginatively named “Tomcat,” who informs her that Shakespeare’s plays were written by his cat, who lived on in obscurity after his master died. The kidnapped cats are rescued from an underground lighthouse guarded by Japanese military cats who think that World War II is still happening, only to be kid napped again almost immediately. Colette and her companions decide that in order to save their compan ions, they must have Carson’s last will and testament annulled by the governor of California, who is going to leave for the moon at any minute. For some unexplained reason, the cats have to travel through time to England and receive an unknown play from Shakespeare’s cat in order to fool the governor into signing the annulment. While traveling through the dimensional portal, they stop to have a picnic and Colette is con fronted by “The Dark One,” who, like most of the other characters in this pile of literary dung, has no context or relevance whatsoever. Af ter his brief appearance, he is never mentioned again. If you think this plot summary does n’t make sense, you should read the book. Obnoxiously random and ex tremely boring, “Shakespeare’s Cat” reminded me of a high-school-aged hippie trying to fake an acid trip. The only people who are unquestionably on drugs are the publishers who decid ed to sink money into this garbage. ryanmurphey@ daily emerald, com IN BRIEF Spirit of Guthrie Tour in correlation with voter turnout The Spirit of Guthrie Tour is coming to Eugene on Friday, Oct. 15 at the WOW Hall, featuring Leftover Salmon lead singer Vince Herman, award-win ning bassist and member of RatDog Rob Wasserman and singer/songwriter Jim Page. The three musicians will all perform solo, as duets and as a trio, with newly composed songs inspired by and featuring the unpublished works of the late folk singer Woody Guthrie, famous for penning folk songs such as “This Land Is Your Land.” Recently discovered poems and note books of Guthrie’s inspired the musicians to go on tour together for the first time. New music by Herman, Wasserman and Page will be featured as well. This collaboration has been tour ing across the West Coast, and will make stops in Bend, Portland and Eu gene, before heading north to Seattle and finishing in Colorado. The Spirit of Guthrie Tour is pre sented in correlation with Head Count, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging voter regis tration and turnout. HeadCount is aligned with many top-name per formers including Phish and Dave Matthews Band. Wasserman is also working on an album of unreleased Guthrie lyrics and writing with musicians such as Ani DiFranco, DJ Logic, Lou Reed, Studs Terkel and others to be released in spring 2005. Tickets for The Spirit of Guthrie Tour are $12 in advance and can be purchased at the University ticket of fice in the EMU. Amy Lichty The 2005 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Teach English in junior and senior high schools in Japan Learn about Japanese culture and people Gain international experience Requirements • Have an excellent command of the English language • Obtain a bachelor’s degree by July 1, 2005 • Be a U.S. citizen • Be willing to relocate to Japan for one year Applications are now available. The deadline for applying is December 1, 2004. For more information and an application contact the Consulate General of Japan in Portland at 2700 Wells Fargo Tower, 1300 SW 5th Avenue, Portland, OR 97201. Call (503) 221-1811 x14 or email: jet@embjapan.org. The application can also be found at www.us.emb-japan.go.jp Advertise mtke ODE classifieds _Call 346-4343 or place your ad online www.dailyemerald.com
