-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A contemporary dystopian elegy narrated by a cat imprisoned in a Schrödinger's box, by the prizing-winning poet and memoirist whose writing "cuts to the core with electrifying force" (The Free-Lance Star).
The indelible cat heroine of this unexpected tale recalls her life with "the Mustache," her beloved owner. Trapped in a one-way mirrored box, displayed in a classroom for people who must contemplate her fate as part of their training to become "Emotional Support Humans," she weaves a self-soothing paean to the poetry, music, and creature comforts she shared with her Mustache—the best products of a society that has gone off the rails in its violence and intolerance.
The trainees in the room, a motley crew our kitty describes with a novelistic flair of her own, are assigned to consider what they feel about her. They also argue about whether there's really a cat in there, or are they just being manipulated? Their daily required quizzes, reproduced in each chapter, are as poignant and witty as our narrator herself; meanwhile, the mystery of her cat-kidnapping is revealed to us, along with her potential next move on a more spectral plane.
An elegy to freedom, dignity, and connection for all living beings, this slim novel engenders powerful feelings in the reader, as it shows us to ourselves from the other side of the mirror.
"Clever...Morín's surprising narrative builds to a thoughtful meditation on the nature of freedom and trust. This quirky tale will stay with readers." —Publishers Weekly
"Inventive, erudite, funny, and devastating, this debut novel by Morín eschews traditional plot in favor of the illuminating power of the image...A bright, fresh book that is best enjoyed with a record playing in the background and a cat on the reader's lap." —Kirkus Reviews
"[Cat Love] transcends categorization in its description of a dystopian universe told from a cat's perspective...In this debut novel, award-winning poet and memoirist Morín tackles difficult questions with humor and pathos. [Morín] explores empathy from multiple sides—as a means of caring for others and as a potential source of punishment in a world gone mad." —Library Journal
"Notes from Underground meets Kafka's 'The Burrow,' only it's an experiment with the most charming, erudite cat in literature narrating this funny, moving meditation on life, pop culture, and love, that's also a truly original, page-turning delight to read." —Fernando A. Flores, author of Brother Brontë
"Tomás Q. Morín has written the comic novel I've been waiting for. Cat Love is a Gen X masterpiece, riotous and haunting, where Schrödinger's cat longs for better days, but is cursed with the bad luck to land in a cruel box: a thought experiment come to life. As she fights her isolation with the powerful nostalgia that we're all feeling in this berserk American moment, Morín's register soars from snappy to elegiac, ultimately hurtling us into a marvelously surreal place, where it is possible to embrace the beauty of grief. I could not look away." —Jessica Anthony, author of Enter the Aardvark
This information about Cat Love was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tomás Q. Morín is the author of the memoirs Let Me Count the Ways, winner of the 2023 Vulgar Genius Nonfiction Award, and Where Are You From: Letters to My Son, as well as the poetry collections Machete, Patient Zero, and A Larger Country. He is coeditor, with Mari L'Esperance, of the anthology Coming Close: Forty Essays on Philip Levine, and a translator of The Heights of Macchu Picchu by Pablo Neruda. He is a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
If you liked Cat Love, try these:
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
