Cat Brushing

by Jane Campbell

Depois de lermos esta estreia provocadora de Jane Campbell acerca do mundo sensual das idosas, daremos realmente razão a quem inventou a expressão «velhos são os trapos». Longe de caírem nos estereótipos da velhice, as protagonistas – tantas vezes atiradas para lares ou casas de família só por terem passado dos setenta – querem continuar a ter a chave de casa e não deixam que a sua vida seja controlada por outros.
Susan descobre-se sexualmente atraída pela sua cuidadora no hospital; ao enviuvar, Linda resolve procurar o homem com quem teve um relacionamento escaldante durante um congresso; Martha, isolada num apartamento em tempos de pandemia, aceita a proposta do governo para desfrutar da companhia de um robô bem-comportado, que engana descaradamente; a avó que vai de comboio ao encontro da neta decide casar-se com o único passageiro da carruagem para não ter de ficar a tomar conta da irmã inválida e prepotente; a senhora que escova a gata do filho recorda, nos movimentos do animal, as próprias experiências sexuais e pensa que a nora há de acabar por pô-las na rua, a ela e à siamesa…
Escrito de forma desafiante, cheio de uma sabedoria intemporal, eis uma fantástica lição contra o preconceito e os equívocos que rodeiam a vida das mulheres mais velhas.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Feminism, Literary Fiction, Short Story Collection, Book Club

245 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 2022

About the author

Jane Campbell was born in Hoylake (Wirral) in 1942. In 1948 her family moved to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and four years later Jane went to boarding school in Cape Town. In 1959 she spent 18 months at Cape Town University before reading English at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. After marrying a fellow undergraduate, she moved to Bermuda. In 1980 she returned to Oxford where she took a post-graduate degree in Applied Social Science and trained at the Institute of Group Analysis. She has had a Private Practice in Oxford since then and for 20 years worked as a co-director of a part-time postgraduate training leading to an MSc Group Psychotherapy (OBU). In 2017, she sent a short story, “Cat-Brushing,” to the London Review of Books, who published it. She has now written a collection of short stories about the experiences of older women which will be published by riverrun / Quercus in the UK in July 2022. Grove Atlantic will publish the US edition in August 2022. She is now living in Bermuda again for much of the year where her four children live.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than the fact that I’m much too young for these 13 short stories — haha! — just ten years away from being called an octogenarian ….
…..even I can see that these eighty year old farts are intellectually and physically superior to the rest of the human race.

“I am going to the Memory
Clinic as they think I have been forgetting things. What they don’t know is that I’ve been forgetting things all my life. ‘Head in the clouds’, my mother used to say I’ve always been a dreamer. But I do not want my mind to collapse into a mess of corrupt impressions of the past. Or the present, for that matter. When I look at that picture I can recall the glory that I once knew”.

Lovers, mothers, older women struggler’s, dying-ers,
80--year-olds recognize that things are changing.
“And the fact that they understood each other was essential for each had also by now become accustomed to the knowledge that as far as society, and in particular the family, was concerned their lives, they are internal, intellectual and emotional, and one could add psychological lives, were non-existent. As though with the advent of wrinkles and a certain uncertainty in their balance went an erasure of all thought, all significance, all hope, all ambition, all (he said to her much later) passion”.

Aging….
……downsizing, institutional food, pain, love, loss, aloofness, forgetfulness, undemanding
expectations,
memories of sex, parties, cat brushing, children, friends, family, colleagues, desirability, morphine, painkillers, aloneness, questions of loneliness,
being looked after,
fine white hair….
“It was peaceful sitting there, swinging ever so slightly, sipping through the straw”. . .

May we each be so lucky to live long enough to experience these things….

Excellent debut collection of short stories (13 in all)

“Those who respect the elderly pave their own road toward success”.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirteen short stories which I read with awe and surprise attacks!

I say (and this collection) says not to think too much when you are getting old. You will know why. Just read this collection.

I am telling you the writing will make you want to read each and every word what it has to offer. Each story has a different flavour. The touch of emotions and a surprise element in each will make you appreciate what the author is trying to tell or express.

Susan and Miffy 4 🌟(surprised and surprised)

The Scratch 3 🌟 (this one will give me nightmares...)

Cat Brushing 4 🌟 (if you are a cat person, you will love this but also your heart will be broken too)

Lamia 5 🌟 (the most beautiful story here!)

Lockdown Fantasms 4 🌟 (hard not to relate)

Lacrimate Rerum 4 🌟 (my poor heart...cry...)

Schopenhauer And I 5 🌟 (am I surprised?!)

Kindness 4 🌟 (well, this will haunt you)

Le Mot Perdu 5 🌟 (my absolute favourite!)

183 Minutes 3 🌟 (terrifying...)

The Kiskadee 4 🌟 (just beautiful!)

The Question 4 🌟 (the pain is real)

On Being Alone 5 🌟 (another absolute favourite!)

Refreshing and liberating!

Thank you, Grove Atlantic, for the advance reading copy.

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Campbell's debut novel, Cat Brushing, was published on her 80th birthday. Way to go, Jane!!

Campbell provides thirteen short stories about older women. There are common themes: loneliness, desire for intimacy, frustration at family members determining how they should spend the remainder of their lives, taking matters into their own hands, and re-examining life and relationship choices.

Powerful, compelling, thought provoking stories.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lust of an old man is disgusting but the lust of an old woman is worse. Everyone knows that. Certainly, Susan knew it. ~Susan and Miffy

In the Acknowledgements at the end, author Jane Campbell says of writing Cat Brushing: I must wholeheartedly thank my four children who have generously accepted the fact that their mother, rather than entering a simple and trouble-free dotage, has rather inappropriately at the age of eighty become the published author of these provocative and transgressive stories. I had no idea until that point that this was a debut collection (at eighty!); nothing in the writing feels amateur or unpractised. This collection is comprised of thirteen stories, each from the POV of a different elderly woman (and while each of them seems to be a white, well off British woman, that’s pretty much all the characters have in common; there is breadth here), and while primarily focussing on memory (and its loss), love (and its loss), and making new beginnings (even at an advanced age; even against one’s will), these stories nearly all contain lust and sex (if only in yearning memory) and passions that surprise even the women feeling them. Provocative and transgressive, indeed. Characters express deep sadness, unexpected joy, homicidal rage, and moments of elegiac contemplation (and especially when brushing one's cat; not a euphemism). Settings range from England to Bermuda to Africa, even to a near future where technology is being developed to deal with the old people. This is not a long read but I felt compelled to pause after each story to savour and think about it before turning to the next; I am delighted to have had an early chance to read this collection and I do hope it finds a wide readership. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)

Trying so hard to keep a grip on reality seemed like a waste of time when after all reality was so cruel. That face in the mirror in the morning, the ghastly hair, the lost waistline . Some, of course, are slim. Some, of course, don’t drink or eat too much. But what else was left? ~The Scratch

I don’t want to go through and analyse each story — beyond saying that there were no real clunkers in here; each is a lovely gem of varying sparkle — and while most of these quotes should speak for themselves, I do want to note that the following is from the POV of a character who has been moved to a care facility during some future coronavirus “Long Lockdown”, and although her situation has some enviable sci-fi perks, I’m sure these are relatable feelings for a lot of the folks who have felt isolated in long term care:

There are some poignant articles being written at the moment about whether this is life or is it simply not-death. In other words, is it worth it? ~Lockdown Fantasms

And, yes, I may have mostly picked out melancholy quotes:

Through the smoke I looked out at the darkening light. It was the kind of summer evening that makes you think kindly of death and fills your soul with nostalgia for what never was. There was a sniff of the eternal about it; a nudge from the noumenon, from beyond the detritus of the phenomenal, and I knew I had to get there. ~Schopenhauer and I

Or:

I am not crying. When you are as old as I am your eyes water all the time and I think there is a draught coming in from the front door; perhaps the people from the hospital have arrived.~Le Mot Perdu

But there was plenty of cheekiness here as well:

Old men, even good-looking ones, get desperate as their libidinal options shrink. All cats are grey at dusk. ~Kindness

Like Jane Campbell herself, these stories serve to remind us that the elderly are still fully alive with contributions to make — where there’s breath, there’s thought and heat — and shame on me for being surprised at how transgressive this collection really is. I hope Campbell is hard at work writing a dozen more stories; I’d read’em.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

(…) a velhice não é para medricas.

A sociedade continua a olhar para as mulheres idosas com preconceito. Enquanto a velhice nos homens é associada a sabedoria ou autoridade, nelas é vista como perda — de beleza, relevância e voz. Desejo, autonomia ou inconformismo tornam-se suspeitos e alvo de censura. O corpo envelhecido permanece tabu, símbolo de fragilidade e lembrança do que se prefere ignorar. É essa invisibilidade que Jane Campbell desafia em Escovar a Gata e Outras Histórias, dando protagonismo a mulheres que recusam ser reduzidas ao silêncio ou à margem.

A colectânea mergulha nos dilemas, desejos e memórias de personagens femininas idosas. Os contos abordam temas como sexualidade, vergonha, trauma, solidão e a procura de um lar — real ou simbólico — com uma frontalidade rara, sobretudo no que toca ao desejo feminino e ao corpo envelhecido.



Campbell escreve com lucidez e coragem, sem sentimentalismos. Cada conto abre uma janela para vidas marcadas por segredos, feridas e paixões, lembrando-nos que envelhecer não apaga o desejo nem a necessidade de pertencimento. A autora não procura finais felizes nem reconciliações fáceis; prefere expor o lado cru da velhice, confrontando-nos com vergonhas antigas, desejos reprimidos e decisões irrevogáveis.

São treze contos no total, de qualidade desigual, mas os meus favoritos foram:
Escovar a Gata, Lamia, Lacrimae Rerum, Bondade, O Bem-te-Vi, Estar Sozinho e 183 Minutos.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories about elderly women. The writing is excellent and the stories themselves give different perspectives on ageing and the expectations of others about the elderly. Memory, time, love, sadness, feelings of desire, trauma, end of life, a wide range of themes covered. The style is mostly similar throughout although at least one of the stories (‘Kindness’) has wicked humour, and the second story, ‘The Scratch’ made me gasp, I didn’t expect the shocking ending. A couple of the stories have sci-fi themes, ‘Schopenhauer and I’ about a woman in a care home getting a care robot and ‘Lockdown Fantasms’ is harder to explain but essentially over 70s who are living alone are visited once a week by a ‘fantasm’ constructed from their memories in place of real human contact. An emotional and entertaining read.

[Grazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il tempo inquieto

"La gatta e io stiamo imparando il processo di espropriazione. Invecchiare è spesso descritto come un accumulo, di malattie, sofferenze, rughe, ma in realtà è un processo di espropriazione, di diritti, di rispetto, di desiderio, di tutte quelle cose che una volta possedevi e di cui godevi con tanta naturalezza."

Tredici donne vecchie raccontano cosa sia la vecchiaia .

Deprivazione, solitudine, desiderio, ricordo: la mente che prova le stesse emozioni e gli stessi pensieri di quando il corpo non era sformato, raggrinzito, ricoperto di strane escrescenze.

Racconti che portano lo sguardo a osservare e a leggere tra le righe (ammesso e non concesso che ci si voglia guardare)

"Perché era stata cosi crudele con sua madre verso la fine? [..] Perché lei non aveva capito che non hai bisogno di aiuto ma soltanto di qualcuno dalla tua parte? Solo qualcuno che non giudichi, che accetti e basta"

La necessità di lasciar andare. Di non dover necessariamente ricordare. Di essere ciò che a quel punto si riesce ad essere.

Irriverenti, non convenzionali, estremamente provocatori così come l'esordiente ottantenne che li ha partoriti.

Alcuni molto belli.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Großartige Geschichten über alte Frauen, die hier mehr als deutlich zeigen, dass Alter kein Charakterzug ist. Die Frauen in den Stories sind starke, interessante Persönlichkeiten mit Vorlieben, Abneigungen, Bedürfnissen (ja, auch sexuellen) und Wünschen.
Jede einzelne Hauptfigur hat mich wunderbar mitgenommen in ihre aktuelle Lebenswirklichkeit, ihre Vergangenheit und ihre spannende Gedankenwelt.
Erzählt wird teilweise herrlich böse, witzig skurril, aber auch herzerwärmend und traurig.
Sehr empfehlenswert!

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo, it's crazy that it took me so long to finish this book because it was actually wonderful. It was strange, and a little out there.. the way that your grandma talking about getting freaky and how she got her groove back is a little strange and a little out there. However, when you get around that mentally, it's wondrous in a way.

Sex doesn't stop because you're 80. Which amazingly is how old the author of this collection of short stories was at the time of its publishing last year! Pretty freakin awesome if you ask me, especially for a debut!

The stories were revealing, charming, reflective, revelatory, and perfect. There was complexity and confusion and pain, and regret and satisfaction. It was marvelous, the kitty don't get dusty and the kitty kat has got a lot of thoughts. If Jane Campbell puts out anything else, I'm going to read it.

Favorite stories include Lockdown Fantasms, Schopenhauer and I, The Kisksadee, and On Being Alone, and ironically the Acknowledgements were super charming.

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alte Menschen sagen ungeschminkt, was sie denken; denn sie nehmen keine Rücksicht mehr auf Partner, Kinder oder kapriziöse Kollegen. Jane Campbells Protagonistinnen sind hochbetagt, einsam und am Ende ihres Lebens ernüchtert. In „Katzenbuckel“, der Story mit der Campbell als Autorin entdeckt wurde, realisiert die Icherzählerin, dass sie sich nur noch schwer bücken kann, um die Katze zu bürsten. In ihrem Leben haben längst Sohn und Schwiegertochter Regie übernommen und sie offiziell für zu alt erklärt, um allein zu leben. So erlebt sie ihr Alter als Befreiung, aber auch als Phase der Enteignung und der Respektlosigkeit ihr gegenüber. „Susan und Miffy“ zeigt eine hochbetagte Patientin im Pflegeheim, deren letzte Stunden unerwartet von einer Probepraktikantin verschönt werden – eine für ihr Genre charakteristische Story, die beim Lesen „den Groschen fallen lässt“.

Begeistert hat mich „Lockdown-Phantasmen“, eine Fortschreibung der Nach-Covid-Zivilisation in die Zukunft. Campbells Heldin treffen wir in Woche 193 des letzten Lockdowns in Erwartung ihrer „Phantasmen“, sensorischer Erlebnisse, die eine App ihr per Algorithmus zulost auf der Basis ihrer Erinnerungen. Wer über 70 Jahre alt ist und allein lebt, hat Anspruch auf diese App. Deren Einsatz hat zur Diskussion darüber geführt, ob der Begriff Orgasmus einen Bedeutungswandel durchlaufen hätte und daher für jegliche Erfüllung zu benutzen wäre. Letztlich ist die Phantasmen-App nur ein unwürdiges Almosen für Menschen, die zuvor enteignet und durch das Verbot von Hauspersonal praktisch entmündigt wurden.

Jane Campbells Seniorinnen zeigen sich rücksichtslos, manipulativ, aber auch als Opfer ihrer Anpassungsbereitschaft in jüngeren Jahren. Sie reflektieren den Widerspruch zwischen Einsamkeit und Alleinsein, befinden sich in Wiederholungschleifen vergangener Kränkungen und erleben verschiedenste Erfüllungen. Dass sie nicht unterschätzt werden sollten, zeigt die rund 80-jährige Martha, der bewusst ist, welche Bindungstheorie die Entwickler ihres Dienstleistungsroboters veranlasste, ihre Produkte in Gehäuse zu verbauen, die einem pummeligen Schneemann ähneln.

In der Form sind Campbells Kurzgeschichten perfekt. Sie tragen die Handschrift einer lebenserfahrenen Autorin, die in mehreren Ländern gelebt hat und den eigenen Therapeuten-Berufsstand selbstironisch abbildet. Obwohl man beim Genuss von Kurzgeschichten ebenso maßhalten sollte wie mit Süßigkeiten und sie nicht auf einmal vertilgen, ist mir das mit Jane Campbells klugen Storys schwergefallen.

Zwölf Frauenschicksale - Originelle, bissige Geschichten zum Thema Altern - Zugreifen!

[EllaFuchs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wie in allen Erzählbänden : von 2 bis 4 Sternen alles dabei.
Das Besondere: die Protagonisten sind alles alte Frauen.
Und werden weder betulich noch " pfiffig-schlau gezeigt, sondern zeigt Jane Campbell sehr verschiedene Frauen mit gescheiterten Leben und Träumen, manipulative Frauen , auch melancholische Rückblicke. mir gefielen auch die leicht SF-artigen Ideen bei Lockdown-Phantasmen und Schopenhauer und ich.
Die letzte Geschichte Vom Alleinsein war ein Highlight.
Und das Buch ist richtig schön gestaltet!

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Sometimes, it feels that the more birthdays I celebrate, the more excited I get when someone older than me takes the leap into fiction and examines the inner life of women and their impending mortality.

So I was very primed to read Jane Campbell’s debut book, Cat Brushing. Rather than spend her time playing canasta or bingo, this octogenarian did something quite amazing: she wrote a book about the sexual and romantic life of other older women who defy the unfortunate stereotype of aging.

There were two stories that particularly stood out for me. One was the titular story, Cat Brushing, which focuses on an elderly woman who is relying on the largesse of her adult son and his wife, who happen to have an old Siamese cat who “arched her back with delight and raised her head so that I could touch her throat, the most vulnerable part of her.” She recognizes her similarities with the cat – both are supposed to be sweet and fluffy and obedient, and both are expendable. Among other strengths, it’s a powerful look at the power shift between mother and child as one ages.

The other story that stood out for me was On Being Alone. Here, a woman who reveled in her aloneness meets another loner late in life – a skinny nervous woman with a thin, anxious face. Slowly but surely, they begin to depend on each other and then love each other. As she finds out, love has no expiration date.

Certainly, Jane Campbell knows how to weave a story. I badly wanted to love every single one and indeed, the author is not shy about exploring the female libido or moving her stories into the dystopian realm where technology has been created specifically to deal with an older generation. At times I felt an unevenness and a lack of narrative tension that kept me from fully engaging with the stories.

I applaud the author for her courage on taking on a little-discussed topic and for busting through the prevalent misconceptions of aging and the de-sexing of women after a certain age. And I heartily thank Grove Atlantic for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawn in by the irresistible title and cover, it was the surprising content that had me glued to the pages over a couple of days. Yes, there's a discernible theme of sensuality and some romance that runs through the collection, but more than that I think it's a rare glimpse into the inner lives of 13 older women that really captured my attention. I will be one of them, one day! Some stories are sweet and others very dark (either darkly humorous or darkly disturbing), but there is no filler here. My favourite was probably Lockdown Fantasms, set in a world of interminable lockdown, where elderly couples sometimes choose to live apart in order to be eligible to enjoy the company of the government-provided fantasms for companionship (sometimes more) every week. Very cheeky and imaginative.

With thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy to read and review.

[Royce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of thirteen beautifully written short stories. In all of the stories, the narrator is an older woman, nearing death, reflecting upon her life. In some stories, like Lamia, the narrator tries to recapture a love affair that happened over thirty years before. The narrators reminisce as a means to understand and accept where they find themselves, in their respective lives….the final stage. These stories are written in a simple, direct style that is compelling. The stories are deep, meandering, bittersweet and heartbreaking, yet never overly sentimental.
Overall, I liked all of the stories, but my two favorite stories were The Question and On Being Alone. Both stories evoke deep feelings, leading to more contemplating, and have a sense of mystery, told in a clever way. I highly recommend these stories.

[da AL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radical collection of short stories wherein no topic is off-limits. Each vignette of noir humor illustrates how, to put it mildly and without revealing too much, we don’t ever have to stop surprising ourselves or anybody else.

[Vera Sopa · Rating 5 out of 5]

O título deste livro intriga mas assim que o abri percebi que arrasa preconceitos com mulheres idosas. Espirituoso e bem escrito é uma delicia.

A terceira curta história é o que dá título a este livro. Na cabeça de um filho, como na cabeça do mundo, uma velhota e a sua gata são uma imagem de uma inocência encantadora. O que vai na cabeça de uma velhota é bem diferente. O desejo, a sexualidade. O passado presente. A desapropriação de direitos e de respeito.

Importante ler. O título é enganador. Não é um livro de histórias fofinhas. É um livro sobre a vida real. A finitude. E algo que todos deveríamos refletir.

[Ellis ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

È dal giorno della sua uscita che, ogni santo giorno, vedevo post praticamente ovunque su Spazzolare il gatto. Complice un’amica che ha ceduto alla tentazione e l’ha comprato, alla prima occasione me lo sono fatta prestare per capire in prima persona il perché di tanto hype attorno a quest’antologia.
Di solito, con i racconti ho un rapporto di odio-amore, perché - vista la forma breve - ho quasi sempre l'impressione che siano "incompleti" e, talvolta, mi lasciano insoddisfatta. Anche in questo caso ci sono stati testi che ho preferito rispetto ad altri, ma nel complesso li ho apprezzati non solo per l'idea di un'ottantenne che, a quest’età, esordisce nel panorama letterario in modo così prepotente e, per certi versi provocatorio, ma anche perché fa breccia su un tema che potremmo definire tabù: gli anziani hanno ancora desideri e lo spettro dei sentimenti, corredato da passioni e pulsioni, che provano continua a essere variegato; passando dall'ardore alla solitudine, alla rabbia e così via.
Campbell "scandalizza" per il suo pensiero scevro da falsi moralismi, ma lo fa in punta di piedi, dimostrando una grande sensibilità.

[Jennifer Ladd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about this one. It received such praise. I found it slightly disturbing and quite sad. Do all elderly feel this way? Women only? Or are these simply reflective of fears we will all have? Hmmm

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the stories were beautifully written, the whole book just depressed and saddened me. I guess because I was expecting a celebration of elderly women and most of the stories were twinged with self-disgust, regret or loneliness. I did get a kick out of “Kindness.” I was just surprised that a woman who published her first book in her eighties didn’t translate that sense of optimism into her stories.

[Aylin Kuhls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sehr abwechslungsreiche und teilweise ungewöhnliche Kurzgeschichten über Frauen im fortgeschrittenen Alter.
Insgesamt trotz der sehr ernsten und emotionalen Themen aber doch etwas steif und unterkühlt erzählt.

[Gabril · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Invecchiare è spesso descritto come un accumulo, di malattie, di sofferenze, rughe, ma è in realtà un processo di espropriazione, di diritti, di rispetto, di desiderio, di tutte quelle cose che una volta possedevi e di cui godevi con tanta naturalezza”.

Esordiente a ottant’anni Jane Campbell scrive tredici racconti che hanno come protagoniste donne anziane.
Scritti a volte in terza, a volte in prima persona sono tutti caratterizzati da un seducente equilibrio formale e da contenuti spesso brutali e sorprendenti (fra tutti: Gentilezza e 183 minuti).
In ciascuno viene tratteggiata la realtà della donna vecchia:
davanti a sé un orizzonte che inevitabilmente restringe il tempo e, insieme, uno sguardo interiore che invece si amplifica ad accogliere tutto il tempo.
Nel cuore e nei pensieri di ciascuna protagonista, e spesso fin troppo vicino, la prospettiva della morte, ma anche un panorama variegato di emozioni e sentimenti che spaziano dal desiderio cristallino alla mesta nostalgia, dal rimpianto alla pura ferocia.

Avvincente esplorazione di un territorio inusuale, spesso repulsivo e lontano dall’interesse comune e dal mainstream narrativo contemporaneo, e per questo ancora più apprezzabile.

[Julia Hebner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of these short stories about old women is decidedly odd. The others are entirely plausible, especially the title story. Thought provoking all. Made me wonder what hidden lives walk past me in plain sight.

[Lisa - OwlBeSatReading 🦉📚 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I reviewed each short story using only emoji’s because I’m a lazy cow sometimes.

Susan and Miffy - 😳🫣😭 - ⭐️⭐️

The Scratch - 😳🥴😧 - ⭐️⭐️

Cat-Brushing - 😳😳🤢 - ⭐️⭐️

Lamia - 😊😳😠☺️😲 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lockdown Fantasms - 😐😮🥴 - ⭐️⭐️

Jane Campbell writes beautifully but I don’t like any of the stories enough to continue. I’ve read five out of the thirteen and it is too depressing for my tastes, I was hoping for a bit more humour and a lot less (or even none at all!!) of the geriatric ‘sexy time’. A lot of these stories gave me the ick, and the first one made me cry.

Pensioners and sensuality isn’t a combo I’d like to read about ever again, if I’m honest. This one definitely has a target audience of the over 70’s, so perhaps it’s because I’m twenty years too young? 🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️ - It was okay.

[Daria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I only really enjoyed the very first story. Nothing past that got me as much and it was a bit repetitive at some point. I liked the writing and the overarching theme and how Campbell writes about (especially women) ‘being old’ though. I don’t think this is a bad collection, it just wasn’t really for me. (Not gonna lie I think I also just didn’t get some of the stories lol).

[Troy S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thoughtful, lusty, and often campy collection of stories by a very obviously well-seasoned reader, and now, finally, writer. We see old ladies falling to their deaths, murdering, falling in and out of love, and each time you don't want their tales to end. I was very struck by the detail in the final story, where the character looks back at her life writing historical fiction novels stopped writing after reviews sprouted up saying her writing was too formulaic. She wanted to be the next Woolf, but was too scared. That was it. I wonder if Campbell was writing about herself here. If she wasn't, she was certainly writing about everyone else.

[hannah ⭐️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐️

so good!! she wrote this when she was 80!! so most stories are about love, death, sex, queerness, dependence, and the way society deals with older people.

[Maud Lason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reisgezel van Vic <3

[Britta Böhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Emma Goldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. A collection of short stories about the experiences of older women. I liked the first, Susan and Miffy. In fact, I felt that it could and should have been worked on and extended into a novella since it explored or began to explore some really interesting themes. The meeting of youth and age and what happened between them was tender and loving . The rest of the short stories, however, including the eponymous Cat Brushing, just washed over me, the greyest of grey, with all the women morphing into one, grey, passive, expendable figure. Woman after woman dies, kills herself, or ceases to exist in any meaningful way. There is little characterisation, no exploration of setting despite setting being central to several of the tales, and barely any psychological exploration. I learned nothing except that someone, possibly the author, feels useless in old age. Not one of the women in the stories has any agency unless you count Kindness, a totally unbelievable account of an old woman murdering her neighbour.The final one is called Stripping. My heart did lift at the title. At last! Who's going to strip and where and for whom? Joy or at least agency after all! But no. The story is about stripping yourself of your possessions to get ready for death. This is followed by the Epilogue. Which is not an epilogue at all but the author reviewing her own stories! So what are we left with at the end of this book? Well, life is just something that happens and old age is a wash of grey. Where oh where are the women who break the mould? There were plenty in my own family so I know they exist.Such an odd and compliant book to be published in 2023.

[Gülşah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Big time. My mom DNF'd it, too. 😭

What the hell was that. This book is supposed to be empowering but I am scared of aging as a woman now lol. It kind of went in the opposite direction.

I literally hated every short story, like I was waiting for something good to happen for once, but everything was so damn depressing. Not the kind of depressing that makes sense in written stories, more like the What-Was-The-Author-Thinking kind of depressing. I drew the line during the story of the woman who was abused by her father and couldn't realize it her whole life. I just can't with the storytelling and I couldn't see the point.