Also, the Cat

by Rachel Swirsky

Even death is no match for a trio of elderly, stubborn, ever-sparring sisters, who refuse to rest in peace while their grudges live on...

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Ghosts, Death, Fiction, Contemporary, Cats

56 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2024

About the author

Rachel Swirsky holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop and is a graduate of Clarion West. Her work has been short-listed for the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Sturgeon Award, and placed second in 2010's Million Writers Award. In addition to numerous publications in magazines and anthologies, Swirsky is the author of three short stories published as e-books, "Eros, Philia, Agape," "The Memory of Wind," and "The Monster's Million Faces." Her fiction and poetry has been collected in THROUGH THE DROWSY DARK (Aqueduct Press, 2010). A second collection, HOW THE WORLD BECAME QUIET: MYTHS OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, is forthcoming from Subterranean Press.

Reviews

[Beth N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story about three elderly sisters squabbling beyond the grave is crafted with the kind of exquisite humour that only comes with a deep understanding of the human psyche. There are shades of Pratchett's witches in our three main characters, and the writing embodies a clear joy in the English language would also not be out of place in Sir Terry's books.

While the ending fell slightly short of satisfying, this story was a delight to read and one that I would recommend to many readers of all tastes.

[Chantel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the book's subject matters & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on emotional abuse, adultery, the death of an animal, parental abuse, substance abuse, & others.

Volcanic matter may settle but the mind rumbles the memory of blazing obsidian until flesh ripples off the bone. On occasion, one is charmed by the opportunity to move past the gate that pastures their progress; this rarity appears near impossible, a dream dreamt in sleep & unachievable in a waking state. In time, a person may find that the burnt crisp of hate poisons the crop; one has starved themselves. For readers who meet these people within the pages, the idea of a life poorly lived may appear altogether too detrimental to imagine yet, they pursue the story that brings to life the person they do not want to be.

The thousands of lives a person has the opportunity to adopt through the lens of a story may leave a reader with the overwhelming sense that no life is easy; no existence that of a sensory soft petal on the summer lake. Yet, there are times that reading brings horrible people to the forefront without cause for forgiveness or a request for pardon. Their narratives are plagued by that which they choose as their personal poison & perhaps, readers may wonder at the influence goodness has on the heart of a person who does not have one at all.

Irene, Viola, & Rosalee are sisters. Their lives have been mundane at best, & boring & violent, at worst. The reader meets them as they near their deaths. Indeed, Rosalee has just died as the story begins. The purpose of this story is perhaps shadowed by the tragic dialogue that riddles the ink. At once, an easy tale to wander over, the history of the sisters is annoying by which I mean, it is disparaging; no sister is happy, no sister is kind, no sister is thoughtful or wise, no sister is a person anyone would wish to know. Yet, here, we meet as though by chance.

As I made my way through this story I wondered why the author had chosen a slew of bad things to clatter over the mounds of paragraphs about other terrible things. A husband who has alcoholism; a husband who is a chronic adulterer; a child who was abused; a sister who is verbally abusive to her students; parents who pinned the sisters against each other; slurring swears & derogatory vernacular; all these things are pollution to the kindly story books one is used to reading.

The truth of the matter is, I enjoyed this story rather a lot because it showcased the earnest truth; some people are without a paddle because they tossed it overboard & seek not the aid of others to bring them back to shore.

Certainly, the narrative highlights the horrible way caretakers & adults at writ large can shape the experiences of children. Every person you meet was once a child & their experiences throughout childhood shape the way they experience & act in their life, at the time in which we meet them. There is an opportunity for some to forgive the faults, flaws, & evils that exist via the actions of others but, this is at their discretion.

I did not feel that forgiveness for a crude expiation was needed. In fact, this story does not account for the reader at all. The experiences of the sisters & their perusal through an afterlife that has left them nestled behind the wood of their family farm do not indicate the reader as a necessary participant in any way.

The flow of the story & the absence of a reader’s participation, or presence, made this a very interesting tale. While the sisters die off & sit in the solitude of death for years on end until another one of them dies, readers note the punishment that ensues in their loneliness. Whereas they contemplate whether this in-between state after death is meant to mean something, I wonder at the logistics of ruminating for so long in the same space as they held before except, now that their bodies are buried, they have no agency over their environment.

Readers may wonder if the characters ever held any agency or if they are meant to deduce that the lives of these sisters were lived in peril due to the shadowed narrative of an author unknown.

Rosalee could not seek out her soul’s freedom until a final spat had been had between her & her sisters. Viola wanted to ask for forgiveness but, it was too late. Irene is a mean person & will never change. While reading, readers will see their own emotions tremble over the truth; should one forgive the sisters for their errors? Again, it does not matter what the reader decides. The moral of the story seems less than pertinent; a person can be cruel but they die, as we all do. Yet, I wondered whether I might find it in myself to simply accept that the sisters were bad people or if I may decide to view them as markers of their environment instead.

What led me to ponder this question was the cat. Rosalee loved the cat in her youth & her sisters seemed to hold vivid memories of her as well. In all the years that transpired since her sudden & mysterious death, neither sister forgot her. In death, her presence was calming. This brought me to the precipice of my many questions; Why?

Yes, the cat was a beloved pet but, can a cruel person hold love in their hearts? Could Irene truly appreciate companionship if she was intent on hurting people because she held an inflated ego & a rather deficient brain? Could Viola appreciate tenderness when her child bore the brunt of her shortcomings? Could Rosalee regain the innocence of childhood without also adopting the vapid characteristics of a child darkened by a lack of love?

I do not think readers will ever concretely know the answer to these questions. One may pleasure the time by pondering & philosophizing over the possibilities, yet, this would bring us nowhere but around the farm’s property. To covet the point so closely one may need to relinquish their moral compass to appreciate the simplistic nature of what the author has presented. The tales of old wherein a person must always forgive & must always look to be better than who they are do not necessarily account for the fact that some people are just not that way inclined & forgiveness does not heal a wound revisited by viciousness.

Ultimately, this story presents a quaint scenario; bad people, bad things, a bad place. Also, the cat, a neutral kindness emitted by the unambiguous nature of existence. Maybe each of the sisters did find their peace. Whether they deserved to be free is another story entirely & I am not convinced that it is my place to judge.

In this world, religion seems to hold no weight; words are the sword, the stone, & the scripture. Whatever it is a person may choose to do with their life, the flow of their river will fold into that of another. Brandishing the fangs of a viper will not clean the blood poisoned by the very heart that pumps it.

Should readers seek the story that makes them uncomfortable for its rambles & shambling roof; a story that sits on the periphery of town, shabby in its scenery & murky in its message, they will be in good company within the words that shape this one. I will certainly reflect on the sisters who made each other’s lives hell, for what good exists in a world where the shepherd’s crook thumps on a ground starved of light; sucked dry of hope; drenched in the vile excrement of madness.

If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•

[VKNask · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it didn't go the way I expected or hoped, it's still a decent commentary on the animosity so often used as a shield against trauma and how setting healthy boundaries can be freeing.

It's up to each of us to break the generational cycle of abuse, and it's never too late.

Still, their own harms weren't addressed, and I'm not sure what the takeaway was meant to be, but at least it got me thinking, and that's enough for a pretty good short story for me.

[Roslyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

A quick, Pratchett-like story about how expectations shape us, and the reaching for dreams long thought lost in spite of the narrative we think ourselves condemned to.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dispiriting
2.75⭐️

[Guru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three sisters who never got along well when they were alive and kicking find themselves (or their souls, rather) trapped in the same house after their death. Terry Pratchett with a touch of macabre - kind of a fun read.
Read for free on the Tor website.

[Rachel Nortz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 for sure- some really interesting things to say about the nature family and conformity. I’d be curious to read more from this author, thanks Tor for the free fiction!!

[Marita_z · Rating 2 out of 5]

What hateful characters... This story is very depressing, but saved minimally somehow by the end...

[Chuck Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty entertaining story of a trio of bickering sisters who, even in the afterlife, can’t seem to get along. I enjoyed reading of their squabbles and the author did a good job of changing up their writing style to differentiate between the 3 sisters, but the story just felt a bit incomplete. Maybe some examination of how/if they were missed back in the real world would have added to the story a bit, but I did enjoy the ending and how their stories came to an end.

One note is that the sister who likes to curse with old fashioned curse words was a bit hard to read without a thesaurus due to almost every other word being one I hadn’t heard before haha

[Per · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/also-the-cat-r...

[Alyssa (HeartwyldsLibrary) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 50%

It’s really sad when a short story around 50pages makes you dnf it. What I read was exhausting to read and it only kept getting more exhausting. I didn’t care about any of these women nor was the cat involved enough to make me want to stick around to the end.

[Edie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Odd Plot with Weird Characters

Fascinating plot with a lot of potential for a compelling story, but the ending was unresolved and flat. Good character development, and I was able to expand my vocabulary with plenty of strange, new words.

[S.A Reidman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads why can't you give us half stars 🤔
“Does this seem fair? ...It does not.” Rosie asking her corpse

If her sisters had heard her, doubtlessly one of them would have snapped at her in response that life isn’t fair. She would have liked to reply: Shouldn’t death be then?Rosalee's ghost watching her sisters argue about her dead body still bleeding on the ground.

Is there such a thing as Irish Triplets? I mean 3 siblings in close consecutive birth order? As an Irish twin I can attest to the conflict of the three sisters. That shit is brutal in the tween-teen years. But c'mon late seventies... Like Rosalee, Violet and Irene? c'mon best birth control ever but it's also hilarious that they still lived together

Omg two geriatric sisters stopped talking to each other for 4 years ...whilst living in THE SAME HOUSE. Hell on earth. But listen despite the attempt at making it seem as though all three were equal shades if shite, there is a singular dominant lynchpin force of sibling hate and it's Irene. My god, that mean creature sunk her claws in her sisters and brought out the worst in them until they were on equal footing.

Yeah no thanks.👏🏽
You couldn't pay me to go through that.

[PointyEars42 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully dark bit of humour. Generational trauma and societal expectations get thrust upon women, gets internalised, and one day its what they have instead of a real personality. Don't pretend you don't know who Irene, Viola, and Rosalee are.

Also, the cat was a spooky treat that made so sad, I wished I was alive enough to cry on the outside.

The cover art is exquisite. Tor isn't a major contributor to the current cover art trends of juvenile, colourful, probably AI generated, silhouettes regardless of genre or style, but it's good to see something beautiful and linked to the story.

[Anna Avian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This piece of fiction is a bit absurdist, but it still managed to capture how delicate and fragile (and sometimes, not at all likable) people can be, while also provoking your sympathy for them, as they struggle to cope with the complexities of human nature. I would have preferred a concrete end to the story instead of leaving it open-ended and ambiguous. Without a clear resolution, the story feels incomplete and unsatisfying.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parents of three sisters with nearly the same age required them to share possessions and personalities since young. Naturally, they hate each other and left as soon as possible. But now they are elderly, and events has bought them back to their parent's house. As the sisters die, their ghosts remain tied to the house, arguing with each other. But perhaps the ghost of a childhood cat can show them a path to leave the house that would involve them acting in a way they haven't done before.

[Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delightful little snack of a read. These three bickering, insufferable sisters were so charming in their petty ways and stubborn nature as this story was charming in its lush immersiveness.

My grandma actually stopped by my house as I was wrapping this up, so I told her the story up to where I was like school girls tell stories to each other. She laughed so much and wanted to read it for herself!

[Ken Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly diverting novelette about 3 warring sisters, who are drawn back to the family farm after unsatisfying lives. They can't abide each other, even in death.

Read it here https://reactormag.com/also-the-cat-r...

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shades of Pratchett here in our three sisters. Even in death they cannot let go of their habits of bitterness that their parents encouraged. Something to be said for the curse of generational trauma and expectations placed upon us.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It helps if you read this in the tone of a dark comedy.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting little novelette. Not a super deep fantasy premise, more of a paranormal hook for the author to explore some themes.

[cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It ruls

[April Thompson Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes things don’t have to mix.
Sometimes things are separate.


Read it here: https://reactormag.com/also-the-cat-r...

[Sara G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was incredibly fun to read.

[Wendy Bocock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird little short story. Didn't much like the three sisters, but the one's use of creative curse words was cute.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was a bit too long for my liking, and seemed repetitive at times, but it was saved by the ending, which I found very satisfying.

[Bella Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

famously hate stories about sisterly love so it was nice to read something about sisterly hate

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might have enjoyed this better if it was a bit shorter. These ladies were hard to take.

[Heni · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story about sister rivalry, how the world wants them to share everything which makes them, in the end, share only hatred and resentment towards each other. The longing to go separately to find their own happiness because apparently they're the happiest when they are not together.

Also, the cat.