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  • Published: 3 May 2018
  • ISBN: 9781473561236
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 72

Cat Person



This is the bad date that went viral. This is the conversation we’re all having.

She thought, brightly, This is the worst life decision I have ever made! And she marvelled at herself for a while, at the mystery of this person who’d just done this bizarre, inexplicable thing.

Margot meets Robert. They exchange numbers. They text, flirt and eventually have sex – the type of sex you attempt to forget. How could one date go so wrong?

Everything that takes place in Cat Person happens to countless people every day. But Cat Person is not an everyday story. In less than a week, Kristen Roupenian’s New Yorker debut became the most read and shared short story in their website’s history. This is the bad date that went viral. This is the conversation we’re all having.

This gift edition contains photographs by celebrated photographer Elinor Carucci, who was commissioned by the New Yorker to capture the image that accompanied Kristen Roupenian’s Cat Person when it appeared in the magazine.

You Know You Want This, Kristen Roupenian’s debut collection, will be published in February 2019.

  • Published: 3 May 2018
  • ISBN: 9781473561236
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 72

About the author

Kristen Roupenian

Kristen Roupenian graduated from Barnard and holds a PhD in African Literature from Harvard. She is a Zell Fellow in the University of Michigan MFA program, and has received numerous awards for her work. She has studied with Laura Kasischke, Jeff Van der Meer and Claire Vaye Watkins. Her short story 'Cat Person' became a viral sensation when it was published by the New Yorker at the end of 2017, dubbed ‘the most talked-about short story ever’. You Know You Want This is her first book.

Also by Kristen Roupenian

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Praise for Cat Person

By now you have either read or heard a friend of yours talk at great length about Cat Person.

Jezebel

The short story that has sent tongues wagging and keyboards tapping since it was published... #CatPerson has cast light on an oft-experienced but rarely discussed form of sexual consent: when yes means no.

Independent

A fictional short story published in a magazine is being shared widely online as social media users discuss how much it relates to modern day dating.

BBC

After Cat Person... went viral over the weekend, it was praised for putting into words the thoughts and feelings many young women have had while navigating the world of dating, and the world in general.

Vice

What is it about Cat Person?... The beauty of this story is that it has become a case study for men and women to talk about what makes heterosexual sex so confusing.

The Economist

Cat Person: the short story that launched a thousand theories.

Guardian

Cat Person is both brilliant and disarming in its exploration of the artifice of gender.

New Statesman

[Cat Person] launched an armada of thinkpieces... At 36, Roupenian is young and just starting out... The fate of previous zeitgeist-catching New Yorker stories suggests her future is bright.

The Times

So real it hurts.

Marie Claire

For women, the story brilliantly articulates the minefield which is dating.

Daily Telegraph

Trending on Twitter, choking Facebook newsfeeds, and whizzing through the ether by email… Cat Person has been a phenomenal success... It’s a game-changer.

Evening Standard

It is rare for a work of fiction to spark such a flurry of excitement, but Cat Person touches a nerve and manages to depict how it feels to be a young woman now.

Financial Times

Cat Person captured and explained the low-level dread that often accompanies romance for women... It has women saying, in other words, "Yeah, us too."

Atlantic

Women have embraced the story, crediting Roupenian for her brave depiction of the slippery line between desire and loathing.

GQ

A breathtakingly accurate and vivid portrait of modern dating dynamics between men and women.

Dolly Alderton

The viral New Yorker short story that last year opened the floodgates to a vital discussion about modern dating, bad sex and consent… Cat Person catapulted [Kristen Roupenian] to fame.

Natalie Gil, Refinery29

Genius... infamous.

Kayleigh Dray, Stylist

One of the most talked-about stories ever.

Sunday Times

Rarely does a new writer define a moment common to all so well… It’s a fascinating read.

Lorraine Candy, Sunday Times Style

[This] short story on bad romance captured the imagination of men and women worldwide, sparking a debate that continues today.

Sunday Times Style

The equivalent of boiling water poured directly onto an exposed nerve... the most famous short story of the century.

Metro