Lean Cat, Savage Cat by Lauren J. Joseph
In Lauren J. Joseph's Lean Cat, Savage Cat, a charistmatic Bowie-like figure appears in a woman's life, opening up questions around ambiguity, identity and desire
As Lauren J. Joseph’s novel Lean Cat, Savage Cat opens we meet artist Charli who has just graduated from St Martins College of Art, but faces an uncertain future – her laddered tights a small but significant indicator as to what follows. She has an idea for a PhD based on the story of an early relationship of David Bowie’s, but before she can formalise these thoughts there is a night at the notorious Groucho Club to negotiate where she suffers mistaken identity. Confused and disoriented, a story unfolds which may never have been Charli’s in the first place, taking her to Berlin with the charismatic Alex, who some, including Charli, consider the new Bowie.
Their life in the city is one of hedonistic and decadent glamour – more sex and drugs than rock ‘n’ roll, at least to begin with. As Alex’s star begins to burn bright, Charli’s existence becomes one of subordinance, unable see what everyone else appears to, that Alex is a detrimental and harmful influence. If Alex is a ‘Bowie’ (surely the case study in identity malleability and the divided self) it’s John Blaylock in the film The Hunger, a bewitching vampire who sucks the life from Charli.
Lean Cat, Savage Cat is a complex, compelling and wildly entertaining novel which examines obsession, the notion of doppelgängers, ambition, identity, and how the individual can come to define themselves through others. It’s a wonderfully amorphous read – just when you think it’s one thing it becomes another.