Take a photo of a barcode or cover
avidly_eclectic_reads 's review for:
Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats
by Courtney Gustafson
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Poets Square tells the story behind @poetsquarecats, a social media account that cat-trapper and author Courtney Gustafson started when she moved into a house on Poets Square and inadvertently inherited a colony of 30 feral cats. Over the next months and years, those cats changed her life, and in her memoir, she does a beautiful job of describing how. We get to know Courtney (she doesn't post much about herself on her socials) through interwoven stories about her cats and her life, both pre-and-post Poets Square.
Y'all, I cried so much reading this book. Honestly, I mostly don't like reading books that I know will be sad (in particular, "literary" fiction sometimes just feels like trauma porn and I don't enjoy that) but this is one of my most anticipated books of 2025 and, and it's fantastic. And, sure, some of it is that I recently changed SSRIs and my emotions are currently very close to the surface, and some of it is that I have had an intensely parasocial relationship with these cats and their caretaker for years now, but I don't think that negates the fact that this book made me *feel* stuff. I started off reading one chapter at a time because I needed to ease into the mood, but then I just began devouring it.
The thing that is so brilliant about Courtney's memoir is how she seamlessly draws connections between the problems facing cats, and those facing humans. These are not just the economic problems I was expecting (in addition to a cat wishlist, she keeps a human wishlist of sunscreen and socks and hand warmers and beans other vital items for those who need them), though that is an inextricable part of this book. In one chapter, "Men Call Cats Sluts," she describes the "casual misogyny of cat rescue," connecting her own experiences of sexism and harassment to the way people describe cats in heat. She draws thoughtful connections between cats and humans throughout.
Yes, this is about cats, but it's also about people, and, more fundamentally, about care: why we care, what we care about and for, how we care, finding community through care.
Not all of the stories are sad (I cried even at the happy ones, because I cry when I am overwhelmed by sweetness as with grief), but many of them are, or are tragic in illuminating the depth of inequality in this country. I recommend it to cat people and others alike.
Y'all, I cried so much reading this book. Honestly, I mostly don't like reading books that I know will be sad (in particular, "literary" fiction sometimes just feels like trauma porn and I don't enjoy that) but this is one of my most anticipated books of 2025 and, and it's fantastic. And, sure, some of it is that I recently changed SSRIs and my emotions are currently very close to the surface, and some of it is that I have had an intensely parasocial relationship with these cats and their caretaker for years now, but I don't think that negates the fact that this book made me *feel* stuff. I started off reading one chapter at a time because I needed to ease into the mood, but then I just began devouring it.
The thing that is so brilliant about Courtney's memoir is how she seamlessly draws connections between the problems facing cats, and those facing humans. These are not just the economic problems I was expecting (in addition to a cat wishlist, she keeps a human wishlist of sunscreen and socks and hand warmers and beans other vital items for those who need them), though that is an inextricable part of this book. In one chapter, "Men Call Cats Sluts," she describes the "casual misogyny of cat rescue," connecting her own experiences of sexism and harassment to the way people describe cats in heat. She draws thoughtful connections between cats and humans throughout.
Yes, this is about cats, but it's also about people, and, more fundamentally, about care: why we care, what we care about and for, how we care, finding community through care.
Not all of the stories are sad (I cried even at the happy ones, because I cry when I am overwhelmed by sweetness as with grief), but many of them are, or are tragic in illuminating the depth of inequality in this country. I recommend it to cat people and others alike.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief
Minor: Injury/Injury detail