Friday, September 4, 2009

"Homer's Odyssey" by Gwen Cooper--Cat Lovers, You Must Read This Book


Last week, a friend of mine gave me a heads up that Gwen Cooper was going to be interviewed on The Diane Rehm show (which originates at a local NPR station). I didn't get to hear the interview live because things got too crazy at work, but i followed the link from Diane Rehm's show to Gwen Cooper's website. She has an excerpt of the first chapter on her site, and i was instantly hooked. Luckily for me, she has links to booksellers' sites right under an image of the book cover, so i was able to order a copy...and then wait impatiently for it to come.

The book came on Monday night; Tuesday evening after quilting and Wednesday evening i sat down on the couch (to the great pleasure of the cats) and galloped my way through the book.

Homer's Odyssey is very appropriately subtitled "A Fearless Feline Tale, Or How I Learned About Love and Life With a Blind Wondercat." Someone finds a tiny black kitten whose eyes probably never had a chance to open because of a severe infection. They cared enough to take the kitten to a vet, but made excuses why they couldn't keep him, once they realized he was blind. The young idealistic vet saved the kittens life by surgically removing his eyes...and then almost despaired of finding someone who would adopt him.

Gwen was only 24 years old, working for a non-profit in Miami, and already owned two cats. She agreed to look at the kitten...and was immediately smitten. From the kitten, whom she eventually named Homer after the blind Greek poet who wrote of love and wandering, Gwen learned a great deal about courage and about love. In Gwen, the kitten found a loving, admiring, sometimes exasperated, mother. Homer had many unusual adventures, adapted to two feline housemates, 6 moves, and the addition of Gwen's husband to the mix.


Of course my poor cats got tears rained down on them at points in the story, but as one reviewer said, it's really nice that this story ends with the protagonist still alive! At age 12, Homer has had one serious health crisis and is slowing down a little, but he's still going strong. Long live Homer the wondercat!

17 comments:

  1. Mom has tears in her eyes only by reading your review. Sounds like a wonderful book. Yay to the nice young woman who took Homer in!

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  2. Whitey's name is Whitey the Wondercat because it was a wonder I managed to survive! That sounds like a wonderful book! We all hope Homer continues to enjoy the rest of his life!

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  3. This sounds a wonderful book. We hope Homer has a long and happy life.

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  4. Thanks, Paula, I'll add this to my list for good reads.

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  5. What a wonderful story! I love pet rescues and happy endings. I could never work for the animal shelter because I would want to bring everthing home. I'm so happy Homer's life was spared by that kind an loving young woman.

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  6. This sounds like a wonderful book! It's usually quite difficult for me to read cat books, but this one sounds like it might not be overwhelmingly sad. Thank you so much for the review and the recommendation.

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  7. What a wonderful story!! So sweet and heartwarming. The PM's all teary eyed now too!!


    Missed you all!

    Purrs Goldie, Shade and Banshee

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  8. That sounds like a wonderful story. We hope Homer has many good years to come.

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  9. OK... So I came here to say thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment... I ended up smiling at the pics of your cats (i have several on my blog, too) and then you had me in tears reading the story of Homer.... I didn't realize one little blog visit was going to cause a rollercoaster of emotions. :-) Now, I'm off to buy yet another book!
    Have a fabulous, feline filled, furry weekend. Oh.. and thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment :-)
    jaydee

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  10. You are right that Dado doesn't sound like he's neutered. The search ad said so though and mom asked the woman about that the first time they talked on the phone too. Mom is inclined to think that in our urban area noone would be careless enough to let an unneutered male out on the streets. Usually people in the city know better and neuter their males. It is very important that Dado is neutered - and now comes a surprise - as Siena will maybe be a momcat soonish. We have selected a gorgeous well-loved NFC Mancat with papers, floof and everything it needs for her and wouldn't want a certain Dado to interfear with our plans. It's kinda not official yet though and only you and the Poupounette know about this...
    Purrs!

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  11. We would love to read that book!
    Thanks for the purrs and prayers for my Mommy! We know that they helped a lot!
    Smoochies!

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  12. OMG I must look out for this I can see my crying even now!!!!

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  13. Hi furriends, just checking on you. We hope you're just busy and everything is alright.
    Love, Siena & Chilli

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  14. It was so nice to hear from you! We are sorry to hear about the nasty cold though. We hope to see pictures of you guys soon.

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  15. Hi Paula
    I THOUGHT I had commented on this post already but just discovered I hadn't.
    Must look for this book! Homer sounds like a heroic little guy, and God bless his rescuers!!

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