Posted by Candice on Saturday, Apr 5, 2014
There's really not a whole lot to say about this little book, it speaks for itself. It's a tiny morsel of complete happiness, wrapped up in a flurry of pictures of ridiculously cute kittens doing kittenish things. Kittens sleeping, kittens learning to walk, kittens eating, kittens playing. Several different breeds are showcased, including Russian Blues, Toygers, Persians and Munchkins (Munchkins?? I know, I didn't even know there was such thing as a Munchkin cat, but now I need three or four).
Personally, I'm not one of those people who sees cute little kids and feels the pangs of motherhood, but this book made my ovaries ache. If you're a total cat mama or papa, you'll want this book. If you've got kids that love cats, they'll enjoy this book. If you're thinking about taking that plunge into cat-ownership and want to be pushed right off that cliff into the deep end, you should take a look at this book.
You're not going to learn a whole lot from this book, but you'll have a few moments of pure bliss and appreciation of the amazingly cute things that can exist in this world, and that is more than worth the ten minutes it would take you to leaf through its pages.
There are many things I really loved about this book--the early-60s time period, the remote location in the mountains of southern Italy, the insular community the protagonist finds herself in, and of course, the missing people that she tries to track down. Author Juliet Grames takes her time telling the story, giving the reader succinct and vivid descriptions of the place and the people, and her writing feels fresh--nothing gets glossed over, nothing feels improbable, and it's all interesting. -Candice