by Gwen Cooper
or How I Learned About Love and life with a Blind Wonder Cat. Homer is a small, black cat. He was found as a very young stray and brought into a vet's office with a terrible eye infection. The vet had to remove his eyes to save his life, and then tried to find him a home. Gwen took him in. Even though he couldn't see, Homer soon found his way around the apartment by touch; his hearing and sense of smell were also remarkably sensitive. The story recounts his many exploits- some funny, others just amazing, or incredibly brave- he once chased an intruder from their home, and regularly would climb heights or leap up onto furniture, shelves, etc that he knew were there even though couldn't see it. Funny how Gwen was the vet's last resort before sending Homer to a shelter- nobody wanted a blind kitten- yet as Gwen's friends, roommates and family got to know Homer, everybody loved him. She always had offers to leave him behind if she couldn't keep him (she had two other cats). He was just so engaging, bold, inquisitive and amusing. Most of all, his audacity and eagerness to be involved in life inspired Gwen when she had difficulties of her own. I thought the book would get tiresome when it shifted from talking mostly about the blind kitten to going over Gwen's struggles to find a new place to live, deal with a string of job losses, relationships with different boyfriends, moving back in with her parents and then out again- but through it all, her concern for her cats, especially Homer's safety- and tying things she learned from them back into her own story kept it intriguing. Then near the end of the book, something huge happens which I did not see coming, and I suddenly could not put the it down. I knew (of course) of this incident but had never read the aftermath described in such detail. This was a much better read than I expected going into it. Even the final chapters, about a new relationship the author got into, and how her three cats won over her boyfriend-then-husband (who was much more of a "dog person" at first) was really good. Four stars.
Rating: 4/5 299 pages, 2009
more opinions:
Awwww, this sounds so sweet. How did the other two cats adapt to having him there? Was that a challenge at all?
ReplyDeleteYes. There was certainly an ajustment period! One cat was jealous that Homer shadowed the owner so much- he followed her around to find his way around the rooms at first, and loved to snuggle, and slept with her- so lots of attention-hogging (from the other cats' viewpoint). Also, the two resident cats couldn't understand why Homer would leap up onto surfaces- the bed or couch for example, and land on their heads. He knew enough to jump safely, but couldn't see exactly where the other cats were! It all evened out eventually though.
ReplyDelete