Review: A gem of a book - both funny and philosophical
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 4, 2013
I read on average one book a week, mainly literary fiction, thrillers and classic crime novels. I can say without hesitation, this book is one of the best I have read so far this year (it’s November already). “The Virgin Cat: A Feline Fantasy” is a true gem of a book. Already the first sentence clicked with me. People who read a bit of American fiction, novels from the Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Salinger era, will quickly figure out why.During the first third or so of the book you find out a bit about the cat. He’s a tomcat called Happy, which, by the way, is not a name he’s happy with. He thinks of himself as being grumpy.There are many things that occupy his young mind: sex, to begin with. Nobody seems to get enough of it. The dog’s not getting any sex, he contemplates, and for all he knows the humans aren’t getting any either. But then an event takes place that puts sex in a different perspective. Throughout the book I often enjoyed the dry humour associated with Happy’s observations.As he gets older, he reflects on his relationships with other creatures in his life, he reflects on his actions, on being adventurous, on drugs (when he overdoses with catnip), on food and finally on the purpose of his life. He discusses this topic with another two cats. Why do animals and humans dangerous things? he asks himself. He includes in his contemplations characters as diverse as Charlie in Two and a Half Men, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova.And it is in these parts of the book in which Clive Lilwall demonstrates his strength as an author that is to be taken seriously. Throughout the book he combines events in the cat’s life with fascinating philosophical topics. During the second half of the book he delves into these topics deeper and deeper, but without ever making them complicated or academic.This is truly a gem of a book. I enjoyed it, I highly recommend it and I hope that the author’s next book is about Darcy, the dog. We know what the cat thinks about the dog, but what are the dog’s thoughts about the cat?