Gwen Cooper and Homer
In 'Love Saves The Day', Cooper writes about a fictional cat named Prudence, a standoffish feline inspired by Cooper's REAL cat Scarlett, who - when visitors came - would always be the kitty who required an explanation: "You shouldn't touch Scarlett. You definitely shouldn't try to pet Scarlett. Maybe it's best if you don't even look at Scarlett."
Much of this book is narrated by Prudence, who has her own feline way of looking at the world.
Prudence's chapters alternate with those of Sarah and Laura. Sarah is Prudence's first human 'roommate', who - as a young woman - owned a record store and wanted to be a DJ;
Laura is Sarah's daughter. As an adult, Laura is a successful corporate lawyer.
Prudence tells us much about Sarah and Laura's adult relationship when the feline observes: "[One] way humans have of not telling the truth is when they're trying to trick one another outright. Like when Laura visits and says 'I'm sorry I haven't been here in such a long time, Mom, I really wanted to come sooner'....and it's obvious, by the way [Laura's] face turns light pink and her shoulders tense, that what she really means is she never wants to come here."
"And Sarah says, 'Oh, of course, I understand', when you can tell by the way her voice gets higher and her eyebrows scrunch up that she doesn't understand at all."
Sarah meets Prudence when the striped tabby is a kitten, starving and hiding under a cement block in a big empty lot. Sarah and Prudence become 'roommates' in an apartment on New York's 'cleaned up' Lower East Side, and Prudence is very happy until Sarah doesn't come home one day
Prudence waits and waits - wondering where Sarah is - when Sarah's daughter Laura shows up with a man called Josh, and they pack up all Sarah's belongings.
Prudence observes, "The anxious feeling in my belly gets stronger as I try to understand why Sarah would go and not tell me or take any of her favorite things with her." Prudence worries about her fate until Laura says, "It was important to my mother that Prudence stay with us. She was very specific about it in her will." And Prudence is soon an 'immigrant' to the Upper West Side, "which is obviously all the way on the opposite side of the world."
In Laura and Josh's two-story apartment, Prudence spends most of her time in a room with Sarah's boxes (which Prudence calls the Sarah-boxes), that have Sarah's smell. And we pine along with Prudence, who's waiting for Sarah to come get her. Still, Prudence gradually adjusts to her new life, with some hiccups along the way.
Like the time Prudence jumps on the table during the Passover seder, ready for Laura or Josh to put together her little Prudence-plate, like Sarah did. Prudence recalls, "I put one paw lightly on the brisket, which is the food I want to try first.....Well, Never in your whole life have you heard such a commotion! Laura and Josh yell, "PRUDENCE, NO! GET DOWN" And Josh's mother yells, "What is the cat doing on the table?" in the same kind of voice a human might use if they found a cockroach in their food."
Prudence panics and a glass is knocked over, soup is spilled, a salad is scattered, etc. Laura gently rescues Prudence, and we start to see a bond forming between them. In time, Sarah and Prudence examine the contents of Sarah's boxes together, and Sarah talks about her mother.....slowly easing the distance that had been created between mother and daughter.
In the chapters narrated by Sarah, we read about Sarah's difficult childhood, her brief marriage, and her life raising Laura as a single mom. Sarah owned a record shop on the Lower East Side, near her apartment. At that time (before the city was cleaned up) the neighborhood was rough, and there's a lot of talk about drug corners, prostitutes, music, bands, friends, and neighbors.
As a child, Laura was very close to an elderly upstairs couple called Mr. and Mrs. Mandelbaum, who had a cat named Honey. Unfortunately a sad incident, related to being 'poor', caused an irreparable distance between Sarah and her daughter.
In the chapters that focus on Laura, we read about her fear of poverty and her determination to be successful. Laura is a corporate lawyer on the partner track, which means working from early in the morning until late at night.
Laura's husband Josh is a music magazine executive, and he LOVES Sarah's old vinyl records stored in the Sarah-boxes.
Unfortunately, the magazine print industry is downsizing, Josh hits a rough patch, and Prudence is on hand to comment about everything. For instance, Josh is home, pacing around and talking on the phone, and opening and closing the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets without taking anything out of them. Prudence notes, "This is particularly frustrating because a cat has every right to expect that when a human opens the refrigerator, he'll pull out some food and share that food with the cat."
As things play out, Prudence serves as a kind of metaphorical rope that forms a connection between Sarah and Laura, and revives some of the loving feelings that Laura buried years ago. The book - which touches on families, friendship, love, and perseverance - is fun, touching, and uplifting. Cat lovers will be especially enchanted.
For a laugh, here's one of Prudence's observations.
In Josh's home office, "there is a wonderful heated cat bed [keyboard] that rests on the desk in front of a small TV screen. Attached to the bed is a toy mouse on a leash, which just goes to show how little humans like Josh know about mice. In the first place the toy mouse looks nothing like a real mouse, and in the second place no mouse would ever let a human put a leash on it....The first few times Josh saw me sleeping here, he told me that me having to stay off was a 'rule.' (You can imagine how that went. LOL)
Thanks to Netgalley and Gwen Cooper for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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