Doris Lessing's love affair with cats began at a young age, when she became intrigued with the semiferal creatures on the African farm where she grew up. Her fascination with the handsome, domesticated creatures that have shared her flats and her life in London remained undiminished, and grew into real love with the awkwardly lovable El Magnifico, the last cat to share her home. On Cats is a celebrated classic, a memoir in which we meet the cats that have slunk and bullied and charmed their way into Doris Lessing's life. She tells their stories—their exploits, rivalries, terrors, affections, ancient gestures, and learned behaviors—with vivid simplicity. And she tells the story of herself in relation to cats: the way animals affect her and she them, and the communication that grows possible between them—a language of gesture and mood and desire as eloquent as the spoken word. No other writer conveys so truthfully the real interdependence of humans and cats or convinces us with such stunning recognition of the reasons why cats really matter.
Publication Year: 1967
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This book consists of one longer story about Doris Lessing's cats as a child in Africa and then it continues to be mostly about Grey cat and then Black cat, two female cats she had for a while.
The second story is about Rufus, a tomcat who one day became her cat.
The third story is about Butchkin, the boss of the house who had a leg amputated.
They were cute stories, and since I have cats myself, I could see my cats and also my own behaviour in what happened in the stories. The last one was difficult to read. It made me think about when my cats will die, when I won't get to see them or touch them or hear their distinct sounds anymore. My oldest cat turns 11 this year, and she is very healthy, but she is also an outdoor cat, in the summer she almost never sleeps inside. My youngest cat is 1, and I worry for her as well, but for them both because of different reasons.
These stories are sweet, but they were more anecdotes about a person who has lived with cats her whole life and just wants to tell the world about what weird stuff they do. Like all cat owners. Maybe this book is not that interesting to people who do not own cats, or maybe it is because they can understand cat owners better. Idk.
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