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Monday, January 21, 2013

Book Review: Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper

I was very excited when I heard that Homer the Blind Cat's mom, Gwen Cooper, was writing another book. Homer's biography was a favorite of mine, so I knew I would love his mom's new novel.

Love Saves the Day is a work of fiction, but the two cats in the book, Prudence and Honey, are based on Homer's real-life sisfurs Scarlett and Vashti, both now at the Rainbow Bridge.

Prudence lives a happy life with Sarah, her Most Important Person, until one day, Sarah doesn't come home. Prudence then goes to live with Sarah's daughter, Laura, but is sad and confused about all the changes. Laura is going through her own confusion and sadness. Through the hard times, Prudence and Laura start to bond.

Prudence is a very proper cat. She is dismayed when humans show bad manners toward her. She also doesn't understand when humans don't pick up on her  very clear signals. Sarah was always polite and knew how things were supposed to be done. Laura and her husband, Josh, need training in these aspects. It's a task Prudence takes on, all while trying not to lose her Sarah-memories.

Love Saves the Day is very moving. All of the love between the characters is beautiful. You will most certainly need tissues though. All of the love made Mama's eyes leak.


Harvey read the book with Mama.





*****SPOILER ALERT*****


Sarah and Laura had a very strained relationship. Chapter 13 finally explains the reason for the distance. Mama cried a lot during this chapter. It took her back to last February, watching our apartment building burn down. We, along with all of our neighbors, lost our home. One neighbor in particular was not allowed to go back in to get his cat.

It was almost as if Gwen had been there that night and fictionalized the scene. In the book, Sarah and Laura watch their apartment building get torn down while their upstairs neighbor begs to go back in for his cat. At one point, Mama was sure Gwen was trying to kill her. She sobbed trying to get through chapter 13. Gwen did a beautiful job describing a horrific moment in people's lives.

5 comments:

  1. Wow. I just read and reviewed the book too, but it totally did not occur to me what effect that chapter would have on you until just now. It was hard enough for my human to get through that chapter in one piece - it must have been devastating to you. But then, to have it effect you that much is also a sign of a really powerfully-written book.

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    1. It really took Mama by surprise, but yes, Gwen captured the moment perfectly.

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  2. This sounds like a good book. We're gonna have the mom check it out!

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  3. We think the same! Mommy's been SOBBING through this emtire book!

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