SUMMARY: I must give my husband credit for discovering a book that is perfect for my feline loving heart, and also one that had flown under my radar. It was appropriately a Mother's Day present. The inside of the dust jacket trumpets "For people who both love and hate cats." So...the first sentence immediately grabbed my attention in a "How is this possible? I NEED TO READ NOW" kind of way. The story focuses on Alec Charlesworth, who is a librarian grieving the recent loss of his wife. He meets Roger, a talking cat who begins to tell him a great tale filled with secret societies, travel, and dark forces. Truss is most well-known for her punctuation novel Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Cat Out of Hell is a foray into fiction and dark comedy, confirming some of our worst fears that cats do think they're smarter than us, and are using humans as pawns to achieve their goals.
WRITING: The writing is dark, often dry, British humor, with some flourish-y sentences. The format was strange in that some of it told from Alec's perspective as he's listening to audio of a man named Wiggy and Roger, and also looking at pictures that have been sent to him. Also, there is a lot of email correspondence woven into the narrative. I also found it a bit confusing in general...the story was trying to be too many things and I ultimately found it a tad disappointing. Some scenes were funny, others quite serious or graphic, then it would get almost philosophical and overly intellectual when Roger and fellow cat "The Captain" were reminiscing. Lots of things are forgivable when cats are part of the story, I just wish the tale had been told in a more orderly way for me to more appreciate the nuances of these animals. I did like "Through domestication and time only one cat in a million can fulfill the nine lives destiny."
PACING: This is almost novella length, and it's a good thing. The story didn't have enough structure and direction to be much longer. Truss even makes a small joke about the book being a bit here, there, and all over through her main character, Alec. "I'd like to finish my account with an apology. Reading it all back, I realise that at times I have been a tad flippant in the way I have written this, and I have also told the story with what appears to be a lamentable lack of narrative organisation." I know this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it didn't feel as cute to me as the author meant it to be. I felt the story could have been so much more and thus was a little let down.
PLOT: Kind of meandering. The idea of exploring enigmatic cat behavior is a promising idea, but the story didn't live up to its potential. Instead of being cute, entertaining, and a bit dark, it felt mostly odd and unsure of itself. However, I suppose one can argue cats are odd as well.
CHARACTERS: The humans were delightfully quirky and had some killer names...Beezlebub and Wiggy for starters. Roger the cat was obviously the driving force of the story and often amusing. He wished for Daniel Craig to play him in a movie because he has "underestimated elegance."
FINAL RATING: 3 Stars
Roger is condescending, intelligent, and impatient with human behavior. This is funny and will amuse all cat owners. Many fellow owners' assumptions will prove true in this story- namely that purring is often a way for them to lull us into complacency before a future attack. This is a quick read that has fun elements and great cat observations. However, most of the narrative and structure fell flat for this reader. I was hoping for more. Still an interesting book for all cat lovers, if you don't expect it to be one of your favorite novels of the year. Definitely just "okay".
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