A review by octavia_cade
Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle by Nina Malkin
3.0
Easy to read, entertaining memoir about a woman living in Brooklyn who finds her back garden playing host to a colony of feral cats. This is not everyone's cup of tea, of course... unless, like the author (and, let's face it, like me) you love cats to an often unreasonable extent.
Look, feral cats are a problem. More so here in New Zealand than in New York, I would imagine, given the different ecologies, but still. These cats - and there are several of them, the colony number varying over time - are feral. They're not going to be turned into house pets. Their lives, sad to say, are likely to be nasty, brutish, and short. If they're female, those lives are also likely to be one of constant kitten-producing. Feral cats have a lot of kittens, which exacerbates the problem. The solution that Malkin plumps for, and that the book is lightly interested in promoting, is called TNR: trap, neuter, release. This not only limits the amount of kittens being born, but it's also healthier for the mother cats, who are often worn out and starving trying to provide for their litters. When you think of a topic for a funny memoir it probably isn't this, but Malkin's focus is as much - if not more - on the personalities living in her garden... personalities which are often vicious and spiteful, which almost makes her attempts to cuddle them even funnier. It also helps that she's so self-deprecating about it, and the often ludicrous attempts she'll go to to trap these moggies. The woman's a crazy cat lady and knows it.
I sympathise.
Look, feral cats are a problem. More so here in New Zealand than in New York, I would imagine, given the different ecologies, but still. These cats - and there are several of them, the colony number varying over time - are feral. They're not going to be turned into house pets. Their lives, sad to say, are likely to be nasty, brutish, and short. If they're female, those lives are also likely to be one of constant kitten-producing. Feral cats have a lot of kittens, which exacerbates the problem. The solution that Malkin plumps for, and that the book is lightly interested in promoting, is called TNR: trap, neuter, release. This not only limits the amount of kittens being born, but it's also healthier for the mother cats, who are often worn out and starving trying to provide for their litters. When you think of a topic for a funny memoir it probably isn't this, but Malkin's focus is as much - if not more - on the personalities living in her garden... personalities which are often vicious and spiteful, which almost makes her attempts to cuddle them even funnier. It also helps that she's so self-deprecating about it, and the often ludicrous attempts she'll go to to trap these moggies. The woman's a crazy cat lady and knows it.
I sympathise.