This is one of my favorite cat books. It's a book for cat lovers. It's a book for women who love their cats. And it's a book for men who love women who love their cats.
Author Clea Simon examines the bond between cats and women from all angles - from history and mythology to interviews with cat women from all walks of life, the book is a compelling mix of facts about cats and the women who love them. It's also a memoir of the seventeen years Simon spent with Cyrus, the kitten she adopted as a young single woman.
This is a joyful book, celebrating the role cats play in womens' lives. If you are a woman who loves cats, or if you want to better understand a woman who loves cats, you will enjoy this book.
Well-meaning but ultimately unsatisfying
I wanted to read this book to further explore the question posed by the title and thought there would be some answers. If you have never read any books about cats and their history before, then there is much scholarship and lovingly done research in this book and that does make it worthwhile. She is obviously well-meaning, sincere and loves cats. However, the book doesn't really explore the "mysterious connection" in any interesting or conclusive fashion. Sadly, too, her writing is a bit clunky, repetitive and formulaic, especially in her various interviews. It felt like a research paper that someone suggested could be made "more interesting" with interviews with female cat owners. I just thought it would be a better book. The book on this subject has yet to be written.
Read like a thesis paper.
Not a particularly entertaining read. It reads like a thesis paper, scholarly and ponderous. Felt like I was doing homework.
Women and Cats - a wonderful and mysterious bond
This is a great book, especially for those that would like to know WHY so many wonmen are adopted by cats! We never really own a cat, nor should we and I think women understand this, as explained in the book. Cats are part of the family and because of that, the bond it strong. This book helped me to understand why.
A Kitty Connection
This book has been very insightful for me and some of my friends (this was a great gift item!). What I found most intriguing was the reconstruction of the make-up of "The Old Cat Lady" myth. It makes sense that it was built out of confusion, disdain, and the urge to make women feel repressed.
The stories presented here are very enjoyable, and I found myself retelling them to several friends. It's nice to realize a bit of a community here.
I thought this book was going to be totally unrelated to most of the other books I've been reading lately that are about Wicca. I was pleasantly surprised to find a little blurb about Wicca in chapter 3. I am definitely glad for the positive coverage, the more informed people are about various ways of life, the less bigoted the world will be.
