The Cat Who Came in from the Cold

Masson, Jeffrey Moussaieff. (2004). The Cat Who Came in from the Cold : A Fable. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

ISBN: 978-0345478672

Pages: 107

Genre: historical fiction

Annotation: An explanation for why the first cat allowed domestication.

Summary: Billi observes humans from his favorite perch in the mango grove. Feeling a need to learn more about them he travels across India to speak with different domestic animals about their relationships with humans. His decision will change the relationship between humans and cats forever.

Evaluation: good read.

Billi, Hindi for ‘cat’, is the main character. The author shows an understanding of cats that rings true with this cat lover’s experience. Masson’s explanation for cat behaviors such as blinking, how they handle embarrassment, their opinions on being confined, etc. feel right. Billi’s thoughts on how to associate with humans on an equal level versus being a worker or toy at human beck and call did seem cat-like. On the other hand, Billi seems too human: he understands human languages and religion. Billi seeming too human also keeps me from giving the book an excellent rating, but otherwise the storyline is good. The interweaving of thoughts on Indian religions was interesting, but could be seen as detracting from the cat-human storyline. The pacing of the story felt excellent as Billi does not spontaneously end up with humans, but goes through a lot of thinking and some false starts. The descriptions of cat movement, other animals’ opinions of humans and Indian landscape/religions were engaging. A good read for cat lovers.

What else to read:

Masson’s The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart.

James Herriot's Cat Stories by James Herriot and illustrated by Lesley Holmes shares a veterinarian’s stories about his interactions with cats and the humans in their lives.

Catalyst (Tales of the Barque Cats series) by Anne McCaffrey has cat protagonists working with humans to save both species from domination.

Lillian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who mystery series has a cat-human relationship where cats help their human to solve mysteries.