Tuesday 21 August 2012

BOOK REVIEW: TILLY -THE UGLIEST CAT IN THE SHELTER

This is the first book review I've put in this blog and I've included it because I think you'll be interested. I'm lucky to be a member of Amazon Vine which is a scheme where selected regular reviewers on Amazon get two lists of freebies for review every month. Mostly it's books, but DVDs are frequent as is software and other stuff. There's only a limited supply so the 'good' (i.e. expensive) stuff goes straight away, within seconds of the list being posted. Last week's coincided with Animal Krackers' 10th anniversary meal at the Seaton Lane Inn where a good time was had by all. When I got home I checked the list to see what was left and discovered, among several other items, this book and a cat urine smell killer/stain remover so I picked them both. It the spray is any good I'll reprint that review as well. Meanwhile, here's the book review.

Previous published as an Amazon 5* review and titled "Purrfect present for a cat lover."

To be honest, it was always going to be extremely unlikely that I'd give this book a bad review. Indeed I'm almost the perfect reader for it as I'm one of several co-founders of Sunderland's Animal Krackers, a pet rescue charity, and am actively involved in cat rescuing, plus I'm owned by nine happy cats.

This book works on several levels. On one level it's a well-told tale about a human and a cat and is, to use a well-worn cliche, a heart-warming story. But it's more than that. Woven into the narrative is sound advice on how to live with and treat a cat. It's a guide to understanding feline nature. It's also a plea to treat animals with the respect they deserve. It is also a quite harrowing story about a woman who not only has to care for her severely long-term ill husband, a difficult, almost feral, cat and her own personal problems and the illness she develops towards the end of the book which is all so cumulatively bad that I am in awe of the author's ability to cope. It also explains the meaning of the second subtitle.

As for the first, don't believe it. If Tilly was the ugliest cat in the shelter then they must have had some of the world's most beautiful cats there. Admittedly I'm rather fond of torties and called a seriously de-furred one (due to a flea allergy and a neighbour's comment that she was ugliest cat she'd ever seen) I adopted, Bonnie. But Tilly is beautiful by any standards just as her owner is a beautiful human being. 

(Below is another photo of Tilly and, below that, my lovely but sadly passed on,Bonnie )



2 comments:

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