Making the Cat Laugh: One Woman's Journal of Single Life on the Margins

by Lynne Truss

One woman's journal of single life on the margins. A brilliant collection of Lynne Truss' journalism -- recording the life of a metropolitan refugee from coupledom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Essays, Chick Lit, Memoir, British Literature

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Lynne Truss is a writer and journalist who started out as a literary editor with a blue pencil and then got sidetracked. The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. She won Columnist of the Year for her work for Women's Journal. Lynne Truss also hosted Cutting a Dash, a popular BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London and is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton, England.

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Lynne's Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, and really enjoyed it, so, I was happy to try another of her nonfiction efforts. Unfortunately, it did not impress. It is a book constructed from columns she has written for various publications. They seem to centre around being a single woman with cats, and other random items thrown in for no apparent reason. I didn't really find it amusing, in fact, I was glad when I finally finished it, and could move on to something else. I almost marked it as a 1 Star, but since I did smile (once or twice) at some of the bits, I decided to be generous.

2 Stars = Blah. It didn't do anything for me.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was better than it had any right to be. I’d already read some Truss before, in the form of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but this is an entirely different type of non-fiction. It’s basically just a series of short essays about whatever the hell Truss felt like writing about at the time. And the fact that this was published back in 1995 – and that several of the pieces mention details that date them as even earlier, such as a reference to Roald Dahl being alive – actually makes it even more interesting.

So what if it’s a book about a single woman being a single woman? I’m a male who’s in a relationship, and I still found the stories inside highly relatable, especially when she talked about her cats and her relationship with them. The truth of the matter is that Truss writes in an approachable way that’s pretty much guaranteed to make you laugh, whoever you are. And while I’m sure you could classify it as a feminist book, it’s not – not really. It’s more like a collection of comic essays, and I often wondered whether she was an influence on Danny Wallace.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a collection of newspaper columns that were written by Lynne Truss (author of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves) and originally published through The Listener, The Times, and Woman's Journal. It is devoted to commentary on the single life, the behavioral oddities of cats, and general neuroticism pertaining to society, and I found it quite entertaining. I enjoyed the audiobook on my commute and would recommend it for a free time read.

[Lisa Marie Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it a very witty laugh out loud sort of book; when I read it on the train people kept giving me those looks. It is a little dated now, the current events mentioned are history, but the author has written a very funny book.

[Alison Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoroughly entertaining selection of UK columnist's musing on British social life. A great bedside dipper. For my full review please go to http://thebooksmithblog.wordpress.com

[Miles Gould · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always a little nerve-wracking to re-read a book that you loved when younger but haven't read for years - will it stand up? Have the years been unkind to it? Worse, did it always have problems and you were just too unsophisticated to notice? Thankfully, Making the Cat Laugh was just as good as I'd remembered - not least because (as it turned out) I remembered it so well, in some places word-for-word. Revisiting my favourite columns (the one about accident statistics, which I once read out in public on my school's speech day; or the one about cooking ready-meals with the ghosts of Russell and Wittgenstein; or the one about trying to book Norman Mailer to write a column) was a delight, but the columns I hadn't remembered so well were also a surprise and a joy. "Oh, it's this one!" I kept thinking. Some columns had improved with age - I had never had a cat when I first read the book, but for the last nine years I've had two, so the cat-related columns were both funnier and more powerful. The final column, written in the voice of her cat, is wry, relatable, and heartwarming.

[Bill Glover · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have someone who is cleverly writing about being a sort of boring, 30-something singleton with to much emphasis on cats in her life, and you're thinking, 'they just aren't British enough' than this is the book for you.

[Lexi Dew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing for the most part... sometimes goes off onto huge tangents that don't really make sense.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some funny chapters, some okay, a couple boring. Overall I enjoyed it and loved the cat bits.

[Peter Geyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of newspaper columns by the author from the 1990s, centred around living arrangements as a newly-single person, and of course a cat. Amidst the social comment and humour, there's a lot of excellent prose: sharp words; descriptive phrases and so on. I partly bought this because I wondered, as a single person myself, what kinds of similarities and differences there were; the price was right as well. There are plenty of examples that can be generalised to other countries i.e. mine, and plenty more that are specific to location in England. The humour travels well.

[Matilda Burn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely "of its time" and incredibly 1990s middle class (like 1 billion 'The Archers' references. I've never listened to 'The Archers' but you can basically guess what she's getting at...) However I laughed out loud at nearly every article and had a great time reading it.

[pri :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

found this is in a box of books being given away for free, and I'm so glad I picked it up! this book is so funny, and provides a humorous commentary on typically mundane everyday experiences. absolutely loved it :)

[Angela Foster-Swailes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The short stories didn’t keep my interest and there was no impetus to carry on reading. I took over 2 weeks to read this book because I just couldn’t get into it and it barely raised a smile from me.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought there would be more cats and, to be honest, that these essays would be funnier than they proved to be; however, they were mildly amusing and passed the time.

[Jess Woodley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious. Often goes off on a tangent and is a struggle to get through with any interest at all.

[Buff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truss is a funny woman.

[Isabella Jürgensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ikke lige mig, men holy moly et nice cover!

[Jac · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not the book - it's me.

I'm not old nor British enough to appreciate this book. The parts and references I did understand made me laugh.

[Windy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random, amusing anecdotes and musings. Kind of a journal although not structured as such. Whilst entertaining, I couldn't read a lot in one go.

[Christal Fakoory · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1995 but didn’t feel dated. I was half way through before something jarred me and I wondered when the book was written.
Entertaining humorous short pieces.

[AJ Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook.

I liked Eats Shoots and Leaves, and not just because I enjoy language, grammar, and punctuation. I liked the humor as well. So, I saw this dual audiobook at the library and decided to give it a go (it was put on one audiobook with Talk to the Hand, which I just reviewed).

This was a series of newspaper columns that the author wrote about being single. I am not sure when it was written, but I think it was in the early 90s (definitely before Princess Diana died, since she talks about her in the present tense).

Some of the articles were definitely funny, and I enjoyed them a lot. Others may have been funny, but I don't know enough about British 90s events and pop culture to have really appreciated them. So, on them I tuned out. I especially appreciated her unabashed love, and strange relationship with, her cats, her love of books, and sometimes odd relationships with other people.

Many of the articles seemed to have very little to do with single life, so I'm not sure why they were in a column about that - but eh, I don't care enough for it to really bother me.

So it was an entertaining enough thing to listen to while driving to work, but nothing to really write home about.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh I hate not finishing books. As this is apparently a collection of newspaper columns, I should have known better than to pick this up. After sandi toksvig's book chain of curiosity, I knew this sort of format was just Not For Me. Browsing a newspaper on a Sunday morning I would doubtless laugh out loud over my early morning coffee if I came across one of these articles, as Lynne truss does write fairly well and humorously, as indeed the first couple got an *out loud* chuckle from me. Sadly, fifty pages in, and the column to book format had successfully dulled all motivation to continue. There was nothing more to it.
Essentially one singly woman's musings, rarely involving cats. Worth a read if you like that format, but maybe give it a miss if you're after something, anything resembling substance.

[Samira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am listening to this as a book on CD. My computer has broken and so I have spent a huge amount of time driving around getting it fixed and generally acting like someone who lives in Atlanta. The answer--books on CD. I am really enjoying Lynn Truss. The book is on couldn't finish, though, because the CD was damaged and skipped a huge amount.

[Kath · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave it up. This was made up of previously written newspaper columns. Maybe amusing at the time, especially amidst the other news in a serious newspaper, but it didn't work for me in this format I am afraid. Did Bridget Jones come later? I think that cornered the market in amusing tales about single women.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lynne Truss pre-'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' - a collection of her newspaper columns which was a godsend when I was too groggy with some virus or other to concentrate on anything demanding. A read-once-and-pass-on book, but no worse for that.

[Cupcakencorset · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of some of the best of Truss’ humor columns. I found them even funnier than her short novels (see 70, 72 and 73 above). All 4 of these works came in an omnibus, “The Lynne Truss Treasury,” an apt name if ever there was one. Highly recommended.

[JackieB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This made me laugh but I got a bit frustrated at the shortness of the articles because I felt she was often just getting started when thearticle came to an end. I am definitely going to try her novels. I think they will be brilliant.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a compilation of previously published newspaper articles about a single woman with cats as house guests. I really enjoyed this book! Some of the articles were so funny that I laughed out loud! A good choice as a cheap Kindle choice!

[Connie Pollock · Rating 1 out of 5]

It just seemed like someone with ADD wrote this - couldn't follow any of her thoughts. Read the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves about punctuation awhile back and loved it, even met the author at a book reading. Won't stop me from reading other books by this author, but this book wasn't for me.