A review by chillcox15
All My Cats by Bohumil Hrabal

5.0

Hrabal's raging struggle with and against the inevitability of nature, the pure sublime potency of moving through life, all channelled through his relationship with his beloved cats, the cats that he longs to cuddle with but, with their very nature, brings his life into a deadlock of frustration and mortifying action. Between this and people's reactions to Satantango, there's something frustrating to the bourgeois reaction to media that depicts people harming cats (both centered in Eastern Europe, but the fact that theres an entire list about books where cats are hurt/killed on this website shows that the issue is widespread). Look, I love my kitty more than most things, but uhh... there's a tsk-tsking to the relationship that others have to cats (and not all of these cats are well-heeled indoor domestics, either, that feels off. I really liked this book, but I'm also glad it wasn't much longer- its suicidal immensity of feeling that life can never escape the devastating strifes of impossible decisions is almost too much to bear.