'Cat Person' Returns in a New Short-Story Collection
'Cat Person' Returns in a New Short-Story Collection
If there is a downside for a literary newcomer who writes a short story read by more than three million people, generates an international conversation about sexual consent and scores a $1.3 million book deal, it might be this: How does she live up to the hype?
Kristen Roupenian is well aware of the anticipation surrounding her debut, “You Know You Want This.” The short-story collection out Tuesday includes “Cat Person,” which went viral when the New Yorker published it in late 2017 amid the growing #MeToo movement.
“I don’t begrudge anyone who comes to the book with a certain set of expectations,” she said. “I just hope that they’ll recognize those expectations as their own.”
The collection explores ego, power and cruelty in relationships with stories like “Biter,” about an office worker who wants to chew a temp’s flesh, “Bad Boy,” starring a couple who turns a lovesick friend into a sex toy, and “The Good Guy,” a male twist on “Cat Person” starring a sadistic bachelor who just wants women to think he’s nice.
“Cat Person,” which made its debut while Ms. Roupenian was in a fellowship at the University of Michigan, follows college student Margot as she resigns herself to sleeping with an older man, Robert, even when he becomes revolting to her. At the time, many women said they’d been Margot on that date, while some men rose to Robert’s defense.
“This is a woman publishing her first book who has struck a nerve,” said Alison Callahan, her editor at Scout Press, a Simon & Schuster imprint.
Ms. Roupenian had finished most of the collection when it sold in a $1.3 million two-book deal the week after “Cat Person” was published, she said. Now HBO is developing an anthology project that could include stories from the new book. Ms. Roupenian also sold a screenplay for a slasher movie and brokered a deal to work with film-production company A24.
The 37-year-old author who lives with her girlfriend in Ann Arbor, Mich., said she has tried to stay out of debates over her writing. “I went pretty dark after ‘Cat Person,’ ” she said. “I’m only blinking and emerging into the light right now.”
“You Know You Want This” comes out on Tuesday.
Write to Ellen Gamerman at ellen.gamerman@wsj.com
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