Cat's Eye

Author Q&A

Q: What about your early life might have influenced you to become a writer?

A: I grew up in the north under rather isolated circumstances, spending most of my early life in a forest with no electricity, no running water, without any radio or movies, and before television. I was read to a lot as a child. There were always books in the house, and they were my entertainment. They were what you did when it was raining, they were the escape, they were the extended family. So it was a natural step from loving books to writing them.

Q: Cat’s Eye is perceived as your most personal novel. Is there any truth to that statement?

A: In some ways, yes. Cat’s Eye draws on more semi-autobiographical elements than any of my other novels–the time period and the place, primarily. But in many other ways, it’s fiction.

Q: Do you consider Cat’s Eye a novel that might advance your reputation as a feminist writer or one that might challenge it?

A: If by "feminist" you mean that I write about women–though not exclusively–the answer is yes. Cat’s Eye is about the underside of little girlhood and about the intricate ways adult women’s attitudes evolve from our ambiguous childhood friendships. But if you mean that I see all women as good and all men as bad, then the answer is no. Feminists haven’t attacked Cat’s Eye much; they too were little girls.