marekvit's review against another edition
2.0
Es una lectura fácil y agradable. Me gustó aprender un poco sobre budismo a través de los relatos y observaciones de una gata. El punto de vista de una mascota es divertido pero, por otro lado, muy poco realista. Sin embargo, no voy a leer los siguientes títulos de la serie.
richardpierce's review against another edition
4.0
Life-affirming. The most important message is that being kind to others makes us kinder to ourselves. A great introduction to the basic tenets of Buddhism, this is a potentially life-changing text. The other great point is that Enlightenment (= altruism) does not happen overnight but is a long process and takes daily practice and reminders. For me, it just confirms that faith lies within, that organised religion in no way resembles true faith (whatever your faith may be). Really worth a read.
chloejas92's review against another edition
1.0
Too spiritual for me and I couldn’t finish. Desperately wanted to as a lovely friend recommended it to be but just not my bag unfortunately
manny_calavera's review against another edition
4.0
This was recommended by a close friend and was worth it. The author puts in basic Buddhist concepts in a story which is easily relatable and with memorable characters. They might be cliched but it makes for a very interesting story line.
carriehaven's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
cr0wnofthemoon's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jenniferforjoy's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
5.0
This review can be found at www.amazon.com as part of the Amazon Vine program or www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
thelexingtonbookie's review against another edition
3.0
Another recommendation by a coworker, The Dalai Lama's Cat was a quick and simple read.
It follows the life of (of course) the Dalai Lama's cat, who goes by many different names including HHC (His Holiness' Cat), Mousie-Tung, and Rinpoche, as she learns from the His Holiness himself. Through careful observation, she learns how to find true happiness, how to eat mindfully, how to release envy, and how to find love. For example, she observed this couple one afternoon:
"...a panel of more than two thousand people with smartphones and send out questions at random intervals during the week. Always they were the same three questions: What are you doing? What are you thinking? How happy are you? What they found out was that forty-seven percent of the time, people weren't thinking about what they were doing."
These types of observations, even though meant from a cat's point of view, are meant to make the reader reflect upon them. So when I can upon this excerpt, I spent a few minutes thinking about what I was doing versus what I was thinking, and how happy I was about it. What's funny is, this mention of mindfulness became a small lesson on how to be mindful. Michie wrote novel filled full of little teachable moments like that, passed off as personal observations from the Dalai Lama's cat. It's quite clever, truthfully.
While I appreciate those little moments, I found the novel overall to be lacking in action. There wasn't a large climactic scene, or one giant overarching lesson- and if there was, it totally went over my head. So overall, I wouldn't recommend the read unless you needed a little inspirational spurring.
It follows the life of (of course) the Dalai Lama's cat, who goes by many different names including HHC (His Holiness' Cat), Mousie-Tung, and Rinpoche, as she learns from the His Holiness himself. Through careful observation, she learns how to find true happiness, how to eat mindfully, how to release envy, and how to find love. For example, she observed this couple one afternoon:
"...a panel of more than two thousand people with smartphones and send out questions at random intervals during the week. Always they were the same three questions: What are you doing? What are you thinking? How happy are you? What they found out was that forty-seven percent of the time, people weren't thinking about what they were doing."
These types of observations, even though meant from a cat's point of view, are meant to make the reader reflect upon them. So when I can upon this excerpt, I spent a few minutes thinking about what I was doing versus what I was thinking, and how happy I was about it. What's funny is, this mention of mindfulness became a small lesson on how to be mindful. Michie wrote novel filled full of little teachable moments like that, passed off as personal observations from the Dalai Lama's cat. It's quite clever, truthfully.
While I appreciate those little moments, I found the novel overall to be lacking in action. There wasn't a large climactic scene, or one giant overarching lesson- and if there was, it totally went over my head. So overall, I wouldn't recommend the read unless you needed a little inspirational spurring.