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A review by readwithhugo
Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson
5.0
“Feral, for all the wildness it implies, just means that an animal was abandoned by the system that created it.”
Full disclosure: I have followed this author on Tiktok and Instagram for years and have been a fan of her storytelling the entire time. I knew going in that I would, if nothing else, at least appreciate this book because I love the cats who were written about and deeply respect the author - the cats and author alike have personally impacted me enough that I got involved with a cat rescue organization in my own community.
This book isn’t a feel-good memoir about how the author started caring for the feral cats in her neighborhood and everyone lived happily ever after - it’s gritty and sad and touches on a lot of tough subjects (both human and cat-related), and it refuses to shy away from the harsh realities of the brutal, short lives that feral cats live. But where there is darkness, there is always hope, and this book does a great job at showing how much change can be affected by one person, so long as they’re armed with hope.
Yes, this is a book about cats. But at the same time, it’s not really about cats at all. It’s about how sometimes it’s easier to love the idea of 30 feral cats who live in your driveway than it is to love yourself. It’s about how animal rescue is inherently political, and how human and animal welfare are intrinsically linked. It’s about wealth inequality and misogyny and what it’s like to suffer from imposter syndrome over the very basics of your human foundation: Am I a good person? Or am I not?
But down to its essence, this book is about friendship and love and community, and about how those of us with the tender, bleeding hearts are the strongest of us all, because those soft hearts take a beating day after day and they still keep coming back for more.
As I said in the beginning, I knew that I would at least appreciate this book because of how attached I already was to the people and the cats it’s about, but I genuinely and truly loved this book. It’s the kind of book that breaks your heart and then puts it back together again - painful and heartfelt and full of love.
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
Full disclosure: I have followed this author on Tiktok and Instagram for years and have been a fan of her storytelling the entire time. I knew going in that I would, if nothing else, at least appreciate this book because I love the cats who were written about and deeply respect the author - the cats and author alike have personally impacted me enough that I got involved with a cat rescue organization in my own community.
This book isn’t a feel-good memoir about how the author started caring for the feral cats in her neighborhood and everyone lived happily ever after - it’s gritty and sad and touches on a lot of tough subjects (both human and cat-related), and it refuses to shy away from the harsh realities of the brutal, short lives that feral cats live. But where there is darkness, there is always hope, and this book does a great job at showing how much change can be affected by one person, so long as they’re armed with hope.
Yes, this is a book about cats. But at the same time, it’s not really about cats at all. It’s about how sometimes it’s easier to love the idea of 30 feral cats who live in your driveway than it is to love yourself. It’s about how animal rescue is inherently political, and how human and animal welfare are intrinsically linked. It’s about wealth inequality and misogyny and what it’s like to suffer from imposter syndrome over the very basics of your human foundation: Am I a good person? Or am I not?
But down to its essence, this book is about friendship and love and community, and about how those of us with the tender, bleeding hearts are the strongest of us all, because those soft hearts take a beating day after day and they still keep coming back for more.
As I said in the beginning, I knew that I would at least appreciate this book because of how attached I already was to the people and the cats it’s about, but I genuinely and truly loved this book. It’s the kind of book that breaks your heart and then puts it back together again - painful and heartfelt and full of love.
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.