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Katka
Katka by Stephen Meier is a gritty, edgy novel of greed, love, and swindles gone very wrong. When Gavin and his girlfriend team with her best friend Simona to pull a phony mail order bride scam in the Czech Republic, Gavin gets in way over his head in the high-stakes and dangerous business of selling wives. When Gavin talks Katka, his girlfriend, into becoming part of the merchandise, planning to bait-n-switch the client in the end, things go awry and Katka disappears with the client. Partnering with the jealous and volatile Simona, Gavin begins to lament this risky life he has chosen, but finds the money is something he can’t walk away from. Gavin’s doubts grow; the con begins to consume him, and he finds himself thinking of Katka, the fate he dealt her, and whether he can undo the biggest mistake of his life. Written with staccato grit and streetwise savvy, Katka reads like a Quentin Tarantino movie. Stephen Meier’s work will leave you begging for more.
105 pages, Hardcover and Paperback
First published December 15, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 10, 2009
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
As I'm often mentioning here, I don't like thinking of books in such simple terms as whether they're "good" or "bad;" I prefer instead to examine how much a certain book will be liked by certain people under certain circumstances, and how much it won't be by others under different ones. For example, of all the genres out there, the one I myself am most a slavish fanboy of is definitely science-fiction; and thus can I sincerely enjoy a whole series of books in that genre that make most others frown and say, "Jeez, Pettus, how can you read that crap?," which then keeps me careful about what I say here during reviews of SF books, in that I know most people out there aren't as big of fanboys as me and therefore won't agree with most of my opinions on the subject. This is part of the entire process of being a fan of the arts, after all, of learning what we like more and what we like less, and hence seeking out more and more of the former and less and less of the latter.
Take the recent self-published novella Katka, for example, the very first book by Las Vegas author Stephen Meier; because the fact is that it's not much more than just a basic pulp-fiction tale, nothing more and nothing less than a typical film-noir B-picture put out by Hollywood in the 1920s and '30s, updated in this case for modern sensibilities and cultural references (i.e. kinkier sex and more bling-bling). And if you're an existing fan of such stories, you're going to be nicely satisfied by this book; while if you're not, you're going to find serious problems with it, and that's just how it is with simple genre exercises like this one. In fact, ironically enough this story shares many of the same basis premises as one of my most favorite contemporary novels of recent years, Michael FitzGerald's Radiant Days, which only helps illustrate why that book is so phenomenal and this one only so-so; like the former, Katka too is about a young American frat boy and now expat living in Prague, and all the trouble he finds himself in after joining up with a group of beautiful, manipulative eastern-European women, in order to run a series of con jobs on his fellow rich clueless Americans, during the height of the "Hubris Years" when Americans thought that a platinum credit card gave them the moral right to commit whatever unspeakable acts of monstrosity they felt on a whim like committing while in foreign lands.
The plot itself is not too complicated, because there's simply not much of it in this hundred-page novella; it's mainly the story of Gavin, an incredibly good-looking failed stockbroker who has slinked off to the Czech Republic recently with his tail between his legs, the busted perpetrator of some shady insider-trading deal that is never detailed, but which has gotten him into legal trouble back in the US and made him the black sheep of his tony east-coast family. He's in Prague to hang out with an old friend and do nothing but have a good time for awhile, a good expensive time; and that's how he ends up falling in with the titular Katka, a veritable walking stereotype of the young, sexy Slavic woman so desperate to get out of the region that she'll do just about anything to make it happen. She and her friend Simona have been contemplating starting up a mail-order-bride service featuring exclusively their hot young sexually adventurous stripper friends, but haven't been able to compete with the big Mafia-controlled agencies; but with the help of a suave, smooth-talking American as their public face, though, the two become convinced that the quality of their "merchandise" will be enough to let them compete with the larger aboveground services out there, and make them all very rich indeed. And thus do the two hatch a scheme to bring the not-as-hardcore-as-he-seems Gavin into the fold; and thus do things rapidly start going wrong, just as any good noir should, the details of which I'll let remain a surprise.
Now, let's just be honest and admit that this book has several large problems, when it comes to how we judge literature just in general terms; for example, there are entire pages (and pages and pages) of semi-hacky rat-a-tat one-sentence paragraphs, and so much cursing among the characters as to become self-parodying at points. But let's face it -- that existing pulp-fiction fans are looking exactly for this kind of stuff (including not only the aforementioned details but also lots of gratuitous sex and violence, plenty of complicated double-crosses, and a milieu of designer suits and crumbling old mansions), and that such fans would be disappointed by a noir that didn't contain such elements. And there isn't anything bad at all about such a thing in my opinion, of wanting to deliver a nice, simple genre exercise precisely to those who love that genre the most; and for all of you, Katka is going to be well worth your time, definitely worth the mere afternoon it takes to read the entire thing. But of course there's a reason that a book like Radiant Days gets so much more praise from me even while sharing so many of the same basic ideas; and that's because a book like that is constantly seeking to elevate itself above its stereotypical tropes, while a book like today's is happy to wallow among the tropes themselves, to be nothing more than a simple genre piece that delivers exactly what you were expecting and not an ounce more.
Katka is a fine literary debut in my opinion, an unremarkable yet solid tale that Meier has every right to be proud of; in a perfect world, in fact, this book will serve as a jumping-off point for Meier's next book, a chance to push and stretch himself beyond the safe confines of genre and deliver next a book full of startling originality. The writing chops are there for sure; now it's time for Meier to do something more exciting with them, something more unexpected. It comes recommended to existing fans of not only old black-and-white con-artist films but also contemporary supermarket thrillers.
Out of 10: 7.3
As I'm often mentioning here, I don't like thinking of books in such simple terms as whether they're "good" or "bad;" I prefer instead to examine how much a certain book will be liked by certain people under certain circumstances, and how much it won't be by others under different ones. For example, of all the genres out there, the one I myself am most a slavish fanboy of is definitely science-fiction; and thus can I sincerely enjoy a whole series of books in that genre that make most others frown and say, "Jeez, Pettus, how can you read that crap?," which then keeps me careful about what I say here during reviews of SF books, in that I know most people out there aren't as big of fanboys as me and therefore won't agree with most of my opinions on the subject. This is part of the entire process of being a fan of the arts, after all, of learning what we like more and what we like less, and hence seeking out more and more of the former and less and less of the latter.
Take the recent self-published novella Katka, for example, the very first book by Las Vegas author Stephen Meier; because the fact is that it's not much more than just a basic pulp-fiction tale, nothing more and nothing less than a typical film-noir B-picture put out by Hollywood in the 1920s and '30s, updated in this case for modern sensibilities and cultural references (i.e. kinkier sex and more bling-bling). And if you're an existing fan of such stories, you're going to be nicely satisfied by this book; while if you're not, you're going to find serious problems with it, and that's just how it is with simple genre exercises like this one. In fact, ironically enough this story shares many of the same basis premises as one of my most favorite contemporary novels of recent years, Michael FitzGerald's Radiant Days, which only helps illustrate why that book is so phenomenal and this one only so-so; like the former, Katka too is about a young American frat boy and now expat living in Prague, and all the trouble he finds himself in after joining up with a group of beautiful, manipulative eastern-European women, in order to run a series of con jobs on his fellow rich clueless Americans, during the height of the "Hubris Years" when Americans thought that a platinum credit card gave them the moral right to commit whatever unspeakable acts of monstrosity they felt on a whim like committing while in foreign lands.
The plot itself is not too complicated, because there's simply not much of it in this hundred-page novella; it's mainly the story of Gavin, an incredibly good-looking failed stockbroker who has slinked off to the Czech Republic recently with his tail between his legs, the busted perpetrator of some shady insider-trading deal that is never detailed, but which has gotten him into legal trouble back in the US and made him the black sheep of his tony east-coast family. He's in Prague to hang out with an old friend and do nothing but have a good time for awhile, a good expensive time; and that's how he ends up falling in with the titular Katka, a veritable walking stereotype of the young, sexy Slavic woman so desperate to get out of the region that she'll do just about anything to make it happen. She and her friend Simona have been contemplating starting up a mail-order-bride service featuring exclusively their hot young sexually adventurous stripper friends, but haven't been able to compete with the big Mafia-controlled agencies; but with the help of a suave, smooth-talking American as their public face, though, the two become convinced that the quality of their "merchandise" will be enough to let them compete with the larger aboveground services out there, and make them all very rich indeed. And thus do the two hatch a scheme to bring the not-as-hardcore-as-he-seems Gavin into the fold; and thus do things rapidly start going wrong, just as any good noir should, the details of which I'll let remain a surprise.
Now, let's just be honest and admit that this book has several large problems, when it comes to how we judge literature just in general terms; for example, there are entire pages (and pages and pages) of semi-hacky rat-a-tat one-sentence paragraphs, and so much cursing among the characters as to become self-parodying at points. But let's face it -- that existing pulp-fiction fans are looking exactly for this kind of stuff (including not only the aforementioned details but also lots of gratuitous sex and violence, plenty of complicated double-crosses, and a milieu of designer suits and crumbling old mansions), and that such fans would be disappointed by a noir that didn't contain such elements. And there isn't anything bad at all about such a thing in my opinion, of wanting to deliver a nice, simple genre exercise precisely to those who love that genre the most; and for all of you, Katka is going to be well worth your time, definitely worth the mere afternoon it takes to read the entire thing. But of course there's a reason that a book like Radiant Days gets so much more praise from me even while sharing so many of the same basic ideas; and that's because a book like that is constantly seeking to elevate itself above its stereotypical tropes, while a book like today's is happy to wallow among the tropes themselves, to be nothing more than a simple genre piece that delivers exactly what you were expecting and not an ounce more.
Katka is a fine literary debut in my opinion, an unremarkable yet solid tale that Meier has every right to be proud of; in a perfect world, in fact, this book will serve as a jumping-off point for Meier's next book, a chance to push and stretch himself beyond the safe confines of genre and deliver next a book full of startling originality. The writing chops are there for sure; now it's time for Meier to do something more exciting with them, something more unexpected. It comes recommended to existing fans of not only old black-and-white con-artist films but also contemporary supermarket thrillers.
Out of 10: 7.3
January 30, 2009
Gavin was just your typical American guy. He was good-looking, a smooth talker and very good with the ladies that is till he met the one. Her name is Katka. She is a beautiful woman, who hails from the Czech Republic. Gavin was tongue tied the first time he saw her. Soon after Katka and Gavin became an item.
Together Gavin, Katka and Katka’s friend, Simona come up with a brilliant idea to make some quick cash fast. They decide to start a mail order bride business. Business is booming. It seems these three have hit the jackpot. Like any business man, Gavin soon becomes greedy. He strikes a deal that involves Katka and a couple of men. Before Gavin can comprehend what he has done, Katka has disappeared. Will Gavin ever get a second chance to share with Katka his true feelings and make things right?
Katka is a fast-pace, high intense thriller. I really liked the grittiness of this story…from the manipulative ways of Simona to Gavin’s heart-ache and despair. Mr. Meier did not hold anything back. I picked up this novel to start reading it and couldn’t put it down. Katka is a short read at only one-hundred and five pages but this book packs quite the whoop. Mr. Meier has definitely set the bar high for himself with his first book. Can’t wait to see what he brings to the table next.
Together Gavin, Katka and Katka’s friend, Simona come up with a brilliant idea to make some quick cash fast. They decide to start a mail order bride business. Business is booming. It seems these three have hit the jackpot. Like any business man, Gavin soon becomes greedy. He strikes a deal that involves Katka and a couple of men. Before Gavin can comprehend what he has done, Katka has disappeared. Will Gavin ever get a second chance to share with Katka his true feelings and make things right?
Katka is a fast-pace, high intense thriller. I really liked the grittiness of this story…from the manipulative ways of Simona to Gavin’s heart-ache and despair. Mr. Meier did not hold anything back. I picked up this novel to start reading it and couldn’t put it down. Katka is a short read at only one-hundred and five pages but this book packs quite the whoop. Mr. Meier has definitely set the bar high for himself with his first book. Can’t wait to see what he brings to the table next.
April 20, 2009
The main characters in "KATKA" is Gavin, Katka, and Simona. Gavin is a
handsome, young man who is trying desperately to run away from his past.
Katka is Gavin's girlfriend who is convinced that money, and love
combined is her top priority. Simona is a gorgeous, seductive woman
who is convinced that business is number one, and everything comes
next. She is sneaky, and as tough as a brick wall. Gavin and Katka
team up with Simona to scam buyers of mail order brides in the
Czech Republic. Gavin's plan was to convince Katka to sell herself to
a buyer, take the money, and run. His intention was to use that money
for him and Katka to begin a new life together. However, the plan
backfired when Katka takes off with a client, then Gavin works with
Simona. As his greed increases, so does his guilt in losing Katka.
As he becomes successful, his loss of Katka haunts him more-and-more.
I recommend this novella to adults who crave a read that's filled with
excitement, directing your attention to love, betrayal, and loss.
Stephen Ross Meier managed to create characters that fit an
intriguing story like a glove, and a picture perfect setting made for
the movie screen. The author takes the reader on an emotional roller
coaster ride as you experience feelings of success, and failure. But,
"KATKA" isn't your ordinary thrill ride, it feels more like a rocket!
Your ride begins at Wall Street as you follow Gavin to Czechoslvakia,
where he meets up with Simona and Katka. Then, the fireworks begin.
You get a glimpse of booze, sex, and deceit. Your imagination of
the Eastern European girls explodes as you read on about a life
lived that most would hope was just a bad dream. The plot is
painted with different bright colors, and the moral of the story
ends in sadness. We can buy anything with money, but love doesn't
come with a price tag. It is known to be the most valuable in
humanity, but is priceless. More important, the loss of love,
because of greed and betrayal becomes the worst scar one can endure
in a lifetime. The true price of betrayal takes a shattering toll
in this heart-pounding, suspenseful story. "KATKA" is as
sensational as UNFAITHFUL with Richard Gere, and as powerfully
seductive as INDECENT PROPOSAL with Demi Moore!
Geraldine Ahearn AIOM HonDG (IBC)
Founding Member ABI Women's Review Board
CCRN/ author of 6 books
handsome, young man who is trying desperately to run away from his past.
Katka is Gavin's girlfriend who is convinced that money, and love
combined is her top priority. Simona is a gorgeous, seductive woman
who is convinced that business is number one, and everything comes
next. She is sneaky, and as tough as a brick wall. Gavin and Katka
team up with Simona to scam buyers of mail order brides in the
Czech Republic. Gavin's plan was to convince Katka to sell herself to
a buyer, take the money, and run. His intention was to use that money
for him and Katka to begin a new life together. However, the plan
backfired when Katka takes off with a client, then Gavin works with
Simona. As his greed increases, so does his guilt in losing Katka.
As he becomes successful, his loss of Katka haunts him more-and-more.
I recommend this novella to adults who crave a read that's filled with
excitement, directing your attention to love, betrayal, and loss.
Stephen Ross Meier managed to create characters that fit an
intriguing story like a glove, and a picture perfect setting made for
the movie screen. The author takes the reader on an emotional roller
coaster ride as you experience feelings of success, and failure. But,
"KATKA" isn't your ordinary thrill ride, it feels more like a rocket!
Your ride begins at Wall Street as you follow Gavin to Czechoslvakia,
where he meets up with Simona and Katka. Then, the fireworks begin.
You get a glimpse of booze, sex, and deceit. Your imagination of
the Eastern European girls explodes as you read on about a life
lived that most would hope was just a bad dream. The plot is
painted with different bright colors, and the moral of the story
ends in sadness. We can buy anything with money, but love doesn't
come with a price tag. It is known to be the most valuable in
humanity, but is priceless. More important, the loss of love,
because of greed and betrayal becomes the worst scar one can endure
in a lifetime. The true price of betrayal takes a shattering toll
in this heart-pounding, suspenseful story. "KATKA" is as
sensational as UNFAITHFUL with Richard Gere, and as powerfully
seductive as INDECENT PROPOSAL with Demi Moore!
Geraldine Ahearn AIOM HonDG (IBC)
Founding Member ABI Women's Review Board
CCRN/ author of 6 books
May 21, 2009
The summary is awesome. It really made me want to read this book. However, the book itself isn't long enough (for me) to totally develop the characters and the plot.
Upon opening the book, the first few pages use the "f" word A LOT. I'm not usually taken aback by profanity, but the reduncancy of just the one curse word became distracting. I think that the author was trying to develop Gavin's character and really let the reader know what type of person Gavin is, and also just how badly he felt about what happened to Katka. However, all it did for me was make me wonder if I could finish the book.
I plugged on, and found one other thing that bothered me. The layout. The book is almost all short sentence dialogues between the characters. Therefore, the whole book is totally left justified. The problem that I had is that sometimes I didn't even know who was saying what! There aren't chapters, or paragraphs like I'm used to seeing. There are little breaks in the story where a few lines are skipped and then a new section begins. These sections jump back and forth between present time happenings to Gavin and his memories of times with Katka.
Enough about the things that bugged me. I wound up liking this book more than I thought I would. I just needed MORE! Much more! There wasn't enough to create a mental image of the characters or the places, so I missed out on my minds visual of the happenings. The plot and story line is something different and would make a great novel.
Upon opening the book, the first few pages use the "f" word A LOT. I'm not usually taken aback by profanity, but the reduncancy of just the one curse word became distracting. I think that the author was trying to develop Gavin's character and really let the reader know what type of person Gavin is, and also just how badly he felt about what happened to Katka. However, all it did for me was make me wonder if I could finish the book.
I plugged on, and found one other thing that bothered me. The layout. The book is almost all short sentence dialogues between the characters. Therefore, the whole book is totally left justified. The problem that I had is that sometimes I didn't even know who was saying what! There aren't chapters, or paragraphs like I'm used to seeing. There are little breaks in the story where a few lines are skipped and then a new section begins. These sections jump back and forth between present time happenings to Gavin and his memories of times with Katka.
Enough about the things that bugged me. I wound up liking this book more than I thought I would. I just needed MORE! Much more! There wasn't enough to create a mental image of the characters or the places, so I missed out on my minds visual of the happenings. The plot and story line is something different and would make a great novel.
November 3, 2009
Right from the start, at the first page you know this is no ordinary book you are now reading.The blatant bad language makes you wonder what have you gotten yourself into with picking up a book like this to read.But reading on I found myself wondering what will happen next to each of the characters; Gavin the handsome young American who’s run away from legal problems in the states to clear his head in Prague; Katka the beautiful Czech girl who Gavin meets and falls in love with or does he?Perhaps he loves money more.Then there is Simona another great Czech beauty who has a mind for business and knows what men want.You get a glimpse into the European bride market and may find yourself disheartened that love could be for sale, even true love.
Katka reads a bit like a screen play and I found myself picturing all the details up on the screen flashing before and audience. Filled with international intrigue, drugs, sex, love, money flashed by beautiful people I can see Katka becoming a director's success much like The Bourne Identity. Author Stephen Ross Meier captured me with this written work and I wish him success with this one!
Katka reads a bit like a screen play and I found myself picturing all the details up on the screen flashing before and audience. Filled with international intrigue, drugs, sex, love, money flashed by beautiful people I can see Katka becoming a director's success much like The Bourne Identity. Author Stephen Ross Meier captured me with this written work and I wish him success with this one!
June 19, 2011
Katka is a novella, only 107 pages long, but that was long enough for me. There's not a whole lot to this story. The plot is simple- Gavin, Katka (Gavin's girlfriend), and Simona (Katka's best friend) are involved in a mail order bride scam business in the Czech Republic. Gavin and Katka plan the ultimate scam on an American man by sending Katka with him. She's supposed to get away from him in the airport and doesn't. The book is about Gavin dealing with the aftermath of selling his one true love.
Though the plot is simple, the writing technique is complex. Meier takes the reader back and forth between past and present to build the storyline and fill in any missing gaps, and that itself is fascinating. There's a happy ending, but a predictable. If you can get past the F word every other sentence and all of the sex (these are mail-order brides after all), the story and writing is decent.
Though the plot is simple, the writing technique is complex. Meier takes the reader back and forth between past and present to build the storyline and fill in any missing gaps, and that itself is fascinating. There's a happy ending, but a predictable. If you can get past the F word every other sentence and all of the sex (these are mail-order brides after all), the story and writing is decent.
September 4, 2010
This book will leave you with a strong taste. The characters are very vivid and very interesting and seem like people that could very well be out there. At the same time though there's a lot of questions left in the end, which could very well be to leave that taste, but ends up just being frustrating because there are so many left with out a conclusion.
To see the rest of my review feel free to stop by my blog:
http://bookishwonderland.blogspot.com
To see the rest of my review feel free to stop by my blog:
http://bookishwonderland.blogspot.com
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews