Janet_Thomas

I am writing this review because you sent me a copy of Ulysses S. Cat by Scott Simon.--

Come join Scott Simon’s family for an insightful and compassionate solution to the everyday barrage of daily news that unsettles us.

Ulysses the Cat’s story is only one of the short vignettes that Simon relates in this comforting book.

The full range of Simon’s family members includes all the usual pets like dogs and cats and hamsters but expands to all generations who raised Simon, his wife and children, and even the worms in the compost barrel on their balcony, who are affectionately known as The Slime-ons.

As a reporter on the airwaves and in books about events at home and abroad (He has homes in US and France), Simon has proven to be especially skilled at the minuscule that most of us overlook. His stories roam from the comfort of his home to events abroad in wars across the globe.

All animals in his view are worthy to be included in his family with the humor and passion we have come to love and respect in Simon. You will learn the background of folks who have shaped his love for animals; and you will even respond with a tear in your eye at some parts and laugh out loud at others. I would like to gift this book to family, friends, enemies and strangers. We are fortunate to have such a Good Master of Words to focus humanity on our shared life with the other species who surround us.
This freebie from Brook Browse has given me new hope when I was dispirited. May it do the same for others.

I am late reviewing for 2 reasons: 1. many folks with high degrees in literature already praised this book (even McEwan himself often interviewed). 2. I forced myself to read every word of part 1 which only "proved" we can know very little from reams of social media and email reports even by participants in an event. Part 2 is a "secret" journal reporting what actually happened at a special dinner party by its most educated and intelligent participant. A great story in part 2 compared to the "slog" thru part one.

The characters could have been engrossing but the writing itself was so spare it just moved you faster to boring.