| Varjak Paw | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | S. F. Said |
| Illustrator | Dave McKean |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Varjak Paw |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publisher | David Fickling Books |
| Publication date | 2003 |
| Media type | hardback paperback |
| Pages | 255 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-385-60415-7 (hardback) ISBN 0-552-54818-9 (paperback) |
| OCLC Number | 50938878 |
| LC Classification | PZ7.S1315 Var 2003 |
| Followed by | The Outlaw Varjak Paw |
Varjak Paw (2003) is a children's novel by the British author S. F. Said and illustrated by Dave McKean.[1] The illustrations in this book greatly resemble gothic forms of art. The novel received a Smarties Gold Award and has been adapted for other media.
Contents |
Varjak Paw is a small Mesopotamian dark blue kitten who lives with his family in the Contessa's house on the hill. He is always made fun of because he is not a proper Mesopotamian blue. When a large gentlemen and two mysterious black cats enter the house, Varjak and his grandfather, Elder Paw, know something is wrong. The family is split apart, leaving Varjak to embark on a quest to the city for help. Using a form of secret cat martial arts called "The Way of Jalal," handed down from his ancestor, the kitten must make his way through the city and overcome obstacles such as angry dogs, gangs of cats, and the mysterious "Vanishings."
Varjak, whose amber eyes shun him from his family (as the color of danger), listens to his grandfather's tales of the Outside. His older brother Julius constantly bullies him. None of his family care to venture into the outside world, for they are happy and contented inside, being fed by the old woman known as the Contessa. One day, a Gentleman appears inside the house with two black cats acting in synchronized motions. The Contessa had died. He seems to take care of the cats, but when Varjak and his grandfather venture outside and his grandfather tells him stories of the mysterious Jalal the Paw, the Gentleman's two black cats kill him. Varjak runs away into the city, where he meets a black and white cat, Holly, and her best friend, a brown cat named Tam. Varjak learns of the Vanishings, the mysterious disappearances of cats off the streets. He travels with Holly and Tam. In his dreams he is visited by the strange Jalal the Paw, who teaches him of the Way, a lost form of cat martial arts. Varjak runs into a cat gang, Ginger's gang. He is immediately beaten up. When he travels into the evil Sally Bones' territory, he learns of the villain and a bit about the Way. The fight between him and the fierce white cat Sally Bones is interrupted by a dog, Cludge. Cludge knocks Varjak out, but wakes up to find that the dog meant no harm, and is even friendly. He befriends Cludge. Tam disappears and Varjak finds a grotesque toy cat inside a cardboard box, but it has every aspect of a real cat. He and Holly go back to his house, and his family wants Varjak to stay, but soon after Holly gets captured by the Gentleman. Varjak goes upstairs, where he finds dozens of cats inside a large cage, trapped by the Gentleman and his creepy cats. It is found that the Gentleman is taking them into a room and killing them to make toys out of them, although the methods of doing so have never been found (they come back out with glassy fake eyes and collars, with the sound boxes and mechanical movements of a doll, although they look and smell exactly like real cats). Varjak kills one of the black cats by snipping off its collar, the source of the Gentleman's power, and the other falls. The Gentleman is about to kill Varjak when Cludge jumps through the window and scares the Gentleman off. Varjak is named a hero but decides to live on the streets and leave his family at the house and outside he decides to start his own gang and try to defeat Sally Bones and her gang.
Varjak Paw's name is allusion to the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. In the film, one of the main characters, Paul Varjak, has written a book called "Nine Lives". When he and another character look for the book in the library catalog, it is listed as "Nine Lives by Varjak, Paul". S.F. Said is not known to have commented on this connection.
In September 2007, Playbox Theatre Company took on S. F. Said's Varjak Paw, in a major multi-media production.[2]
In 2008, composer Julian Philips completed an opera on Varjak Paw, to a libretto by Kit Hesketh-Harvey, performed by The Opera Group in September–November.[3]
Varjak Paw has been optioned by The Jim Henson Company to be developed as an animated family feature film, with Dave McKean as director.[4]