Staff Picks Blog
This book is a cat story, well actually the story of three cats, and their human companion. I must confess I read more dog stories, but there are also lovely stories of cats and their humans, including this. The title of this work Homer’s Odyssey: a fearless feline tale or how I learned about love and life with a blind wonder cat does a pretty darn good job of summing up the book. Gwen Cooper, the author, tells us of the adoption of her cat Homer, made blind by an eye infection as a very young kitten. Cooper recounts how her life changes because of Homer. The book begins in Miami and ends in New York City. It is the story of Cooper’s growth from a young college graduate to a successful author.
One of the most moving parts of Homer’s story is Cooper sharing the events of 9/11. She lived a block from her office and her office in the Financial District was a mere four blocks from the Twin Towers. She tells her harrowing story of seeing the collapse of the towers and her trip across the Brooklyn Bridge with the thousands of others fleeing Manhattan and then her life for the next hours and days. Her cats were trapped in the building that she could not access. Even now, days after reading that section of the book, I still get shivers; it is so frightening and compelling. Her stories of her encounters with rescue workers, the posters of all the missing people, the smells and the grey dust that covered the entire financial district are so vivid that I can see them in my mind’s eye. Rest assured, after many days she was finally able to reach her cats and safely move them.
The remainder of the book is about her becoming a true New Yorker and her circle of friends, including a very special friend Lawrence Lerman, a dog lover and not a fan of cats. He eventually becomes her husband and lover of not only Gwen Cooper, but Homer, Scarlett and Vashti. Each chapter of Homer’s Odyssey opens with an epigraph from the Odyssey and a photo of Homer or one of the other cats. If you love cats, I guarantee you will love Homer’s Odyssey. And let me know if you need any advice on a good dog book or two. I can even do dog mysteries.
