Guest of a Sinner: A Novel

by James Wilcox

"It is 22 cats that drive the dazzlingly handsome Eric Thorsen to distraction and into the apartment -- if not immediately the arms -- of Wanda Skopinski, the rather mousy woman he meets at church when she thrusts a lesbian romance novel upon him. The stench from downstairs drives him from both his rent-controlled apartment and his complacency as a not-quite-successful piano teacher. In his sixth novel, James Wilcox moves beyond the modern South he has etched so vividly and amusingly in the past to take on Manhattan. But somehow he manages to bring the city down to size.... The book is filled with as eccentric an array of characters and as much gentle kinkiness as any small-town chronicle.... A winning and consistently entertaining story." -- Vogue

Genres: Fiction

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

James Wilcox (b. 1949 in Hammond, Louisiana) is an American novelist and a professor at LSU in Baton Rouge.

Wilcox is the author of eight comic novels set in, or featuring characters from, the fictional town of Tula Springs, Louisiana. Wilcox's first book Modern Baptists (1983) remains his best known work. His other novels are North Gladiola (1985), Miss Undine's Living Room (1987), Sort of Rich (1989), Polite Sex (1991), Guest of a Sinner (1993), Plain and Normal (1998), Heavenly Days (2003), and Hunk City (2007). Wilcox is also the author of three short stories that were published in The New Yorker between 1981 and 1986, three of only four short stories that the author has published. He has written book reviews for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and two pieces for ELLE. He was the subject of an article by James B. Stewart in The New Yorker's 1994 summer fiction issue; entitled "Moby Dick in Manhattan", it detailed his struggle to survive as a writer devoted purely to literary fiction.

Wilcox, a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1986, has held the Robert Penn Warren Professorship at Louisiana State University since September 2004. He is also the director of the university's creative writing program.

Reviews

[Sonia Richter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Such a wonderfully nuanced picture of urban life and it’s serendipities. From the get go, I felt charmed by all the characters and their many layers. By the end, their flaws are fully revealed and resolution is reached —but not one that promises much. It’s realistic, a read that keeps you wondering what’s next, even if what’s next isn’t a miraculous twist, but a piano recital gone awry, or a new accusation from an old cat lady.

[Ainsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Ashley Memory · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite novels of all time. Hilarious look at the lives of very disparate New Yorkers thrown together when one has to flee his apartment to escape the stench of an overpopulation of cats by a neighbor. It's not meant to be a suspense novel, but the zany behavior of all involved keeps you guessing. Wilcox's best novel to date.

[Syd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun novel about a young guy in NYC, who's dealing with his newly gay best friend, and the stench of 22 cats in the apartment below him.

[Rebekkila]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11565452