"Cat Person" is a short story published in The New Yorker in December 2017, which quickly went viral, attaining significant praise on the internet, especially within certain feminist circles.
The story is told from the point of view of Margot, a twenty-year-old college student who works in an indie movie theater. One day at work, she meets a customer named Robert, and develops a casual flirtation with him, despite the fact that he is significantly older. Their relationship evolves mostly via text, and when they finally meet up in person, Margot finds that she has largely created an impression of Robert that just isn't accurate. With no physical spark, and no real liking for each other's personality, they nonetheless sleep together, and the encounter is disastrous. Margot ends up rejecting Robert, and the relationship ends on a very acrimonious note, with Robert retorting with cruelty after being rejected.
One reason for the story's popularity was the sense of authenticity in its portrayal of contemporary dating culture: Margot and Robert's text-message flirtation feels candid and relatable to a millennial audience. Roupenian provides an intimate glimpse into Margot's psychology as she constructs an impossible image of Robert in her mind, fleshed out by their text conversations. This experience—creating an imagined, mythologized version of a crush based on mediated interactions and fantasies alone—is painfully relatable to many, and certainly helps explain why "Cat Person" went viral.
The story also sparked a conversation about privilege. Margot is essentially both "Cat Person"'s protagonist and its victim. By the end of the story, she is disempowered—but she's still a white, college-educated young woman, who the story describes as attractive and capable. Some readers found that this characterization made her unrelatable, while others related to her all the more strongly on account of this identity. Some readers speculated that it was actually a personal essay or account from Roupenian's life masquerading as fiction, but this critique has been debunked.
After the publication of the short story, Roupenian was the subject of a bidding war amongst publishing houses, and ultimately secured a seven-figure deal in excess of a million dollars for her debut book. Roupenian also penned a horror screenplay, "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies," that was optioned by A24, an independent acquisition company; it is the first script they have ever acquired.
