Synopsis:
Jeremy Feig was at rock bottom - broke, alone, and living in a shoebox-sized apartment. At the same time, his cat was perfectly content. What was her secret? She couldn't say it out loud, but it was clear she had all the answers to living a good life. How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a hilarious self-help book for guys that gals like, too, based on the lessons of an edgy cat named Shelly. It's packed with useful advice on topics like relationships, dealing with stress, and even grooming habits. If you feel like your life is spinning out of control, this book will help you set things right - and keep you laughing along the way.
How My Cat Made Me a Better Man is a "darling" of cat bloggers, recipient of a Readers' Favorite 5-star review, and "highly recommended" by MidWest Book Review.
Delightfully illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Zhenya Yanovich.
(Synopsis from Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
I love books about cats. It's one of those subjects that I find fascinating. It's almost an instantaneous buy/one-click when I see one that I want to read. When I heard that How My Cat Made Me a Better Man was about a guy that owns a black cat, I was even more intrigued. I have a black cat named Sir Pig, and he is my world. He's just like my child. Therefore, black cats are my favorite cat breed, and I thought I would find the book enjoyable. However, I found this book incredibly disappointing. I didn't care for it at all.
I'm not even sure where to start on why this book fell flat for me. I was hoping that How My Cat Made Me a Better Man would feature a lot of heartwarming stories about Shelly, the author's cat. Unfortunately what actually happened was maybe a paragraph or two talking about Shelly, and the rest of the chapter was him giving advice, and rambling about things. Rinse and repeat for one-hundred and fifty six pages, and that's the book. Also, I thought some of the advice that the author gave, and the things that he said, were terribly sexist. There were a few times while reading where I had to stop, and double check because I couldn't believe that he said what he did.
There are two reasons why I'm giving How My Cat Made Me a Better Man two stars instead of one. The first reason is that although the stories about Shelly were short, I did like a couple of them.I especially loved the one where the author bought her a seven dollar cat toy, but she played with the wrapper instead. As a cat owner, I can definitely identify with that. The other thing I liked about the book was that in the end, the author had a section about the importance of adoption. As an animal advocate, I agree that adopting from an animal shelter is so important, especially for cats. There are thousands of cats that get euthanized in shelters each year, because it's hard for them to find homes.
For the most part, I didn't care for How My Cat Made Me a Better Man. It didn't meet the high expectations I had set for it. Even though I didn't like most of it, I can't say that I completely hated it. I did enjoy one or two of the stories about Shelly, and the author's love for animal shelters. I'm not sure that I would recommend spending money on it. The description was slightly misleading. If you do want to read it, I recommend checking it out from the library.
I give How My Cat Made Me a Better Man: 2/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://www.jeremyfeig.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JeremyFeigAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyfeig
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15103880.Jeremy_Feig
I received this ebook from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
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