The Cat

The relative brevity of The Cat, Edeet Ravel's novel exploring a mother's grief, doesn't lessen its emotional impact. 

Elise's son has been the most important thing in her life since the day he was born. When she suddenly loses him in a tragic accident, she struggles to find any reason to go on living, but one waits, literally, at her feet--the boy's beloved cat, Pursie. The fact that there's still someone on earth whose life depends on her pushes Elise forward, however reluctantly, through the days and weeks after her son's death.

This is not a human/animal bonding story, however. In fact, the relationship between woman and feline is less central to the novel then its title would suggest. As Elise documents her journey through the aftermath of losing her son, it's apparent that she's at least as resentful of Pursie's need for her as she is grateful for it. Like most of her relationships with anyone other than her son, this one is difficult and not entirely satisfying. Also not entirely satisfying is Elise's habit of referring to her deceased child as "he" or "my son." But it's a telling detail: it's distancing, yet perhaps indicative of the depth of a mother's pain in that she cannot bring herself to use her dead son's name.

Ravel has crafted a wrenching portrait of the complexities of grief. Elise's swings among guilt, anger and crushing sadness; withdrawal and connection; and regression and ultimate progress toward recovery are affecting and emotionally true. --Florinda Pendley Vasquez, blogger at The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness

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