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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A perfectly delightful book on the joys of feline felicity, October 25, 2004
Let's clear up any possible confusion from the very beginning: while The Cat Who Came for Christmas did indeed come for Christmas, this is in no way a Christmas book. That's important because this book is completely delightful, and I don't want anyone who comes across it in July to think he needs to wait five months before he can read it. Animal lovers, especially cat lovers, will find this book absolutely delightful, and those readers who are so unfortunate as to have never had the privilege of being owned by an animal will get a moving picture of the kind of human-animal bond the rest of us are always going on about. Indeed, the book closes with the suggestion that pet-less owners would do well to go down to their local animal shelter and find a faithful friend for themselves.
We first meet the aforementioned cat on a snowy Christmas Eve in New York. Cleveland Amory, the founder of The Fund for Animals, helps rescue a poor feline from the streets of the city and takes him home - temporarily - to care for him until a suitable home is found. Amory is, by his own admission, a dog person, but he quickly falls in love with this poor young cat who has obviously suffered much in his young life: he is terribly thin, his body bears several wounds, his back is obviously injured, he is filthy, and he may well have never known the affection of another soul. Someone has reportedly thrown things at him and hit him in an effort to run him off, so his emergency rescue is a necessity. Underneath all of the dirt, Amory finds a beautiful white cat with magical eyes and a spirit that wins Amory over from the start. He is so beguiled by the little guy that he talks a prospective new owner out of adopting him the very next morning.
The book, as it unfolds, is the story of this special cat and the human he owns over the course of their first year together. Amory describes many of the conversations he has with his lovable but stubborn new friend, expounds greatly upon matters of cat psychology that all cat lovers will immediately recognize, and basically delivers a truly heart-warming story about two curmudgeons, one human and one feline, who magically find each other and develop a deep and lasting friendship. You'll read about the cat's behavior toward new people (including the likes of celebrities such as Walter Cronkite and Cary Grant), other animals, travel, veterinarians, and basically life in general. The stories of Amory's behavioral modification techniques and feline communication skills are as insightful as they are funny and do nothing to dispel the notion that cats are very stubborn little creatures. The chapters on the cat's domestic and foreign policies are especially instructive and endearing.
Amory is a wonderfully witty storyteller. Some may complain that he sometimes goes off on tangents, but these are most instructive as they invariably relate to early efforts by The Fund for Animals to protect those creatures being brutally exploited by human beings (e.g., whales and baby seals); I must say I don't approve of some of the techniques the group employs, but certainly the group's heart was in the right place. Amidst all of the cat-related humor, Amory is wont to slip in some wonderfully subtle little jokes and literary references, and I would argue one learns as much about human nature as feline nature over the course of the book.
You might notice I have refrained from giving the cat's name; this is intentional on my part. A cat's name is very important, and the author devotes many pages to the naming process of this cat in particular, so I would be remiss to simply blurt the name out here.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for all cat lovers, June 15, 2002
This book is for two different audiences: those of you who are owned by a cat and those of you who have wondered what such slavery is like. In The Cat Who Came for Christma, Cleveland Amory tells of the
Christmas many years ago when a small cat first entered his
apartment - and his heart. His story began about 7:00 on
Christmas Eve at a time when he was not particularly merry. For
one thing, Amory prides himself on being a curmudgeon, so "Bah,
humbug" is his favorite expression. For another, he had recently
divorced and was alone in an apartment far from his family. He was not excited, therefore, when a volunteer in the Fund for
Animals which he had founded came by and asked his help in
rescuing a stray cat that was about to be killed by the tenants
of the apartment building whose basement he had chosen for his
temporary resident. He was even less happy after the battle was
over. He might have captured the cat, but Amory's battle scars
showed he was the worse for wear. He agreed to keep the cat in his apartment for a couple of days
until someone could be found to adopt him. Even though Amory
loved animals, he felt there was no room in his life for one at
this time. Soon, however, Polar Bear proved him wrong, for when
he finally surveyed the apartment and this funny human, he
decided it met his approval. The decision, you see, was not
Amory's, but the cat's! Of course Amory didn't immediately recognize the relationship. When he decided this new cat needed a bath, the battle was on.
Polar Bear knew what this man was trying to do, but he just
couldn't believe it. "Wash a cat!" he exclaimed, "Boy, have I got
my work cut out for me with this one!" Amory decided a change of
tactics was in order, but, he insists, it had nothing to do with
Polar Bear's arched back and laid-back ears! They reached a
compromise. Amory put the water in the sink, and Polar Bear got
in on his own. Compromises, in fact, proved to be the order of the day. After
trying to teach his cat to play games or do tricks, Amory
resorted to a simply request: "Come here." He soon learned what
every cat roommate knows: Cats do not come when they are called.
Polar Bear finally agreed that if his human would inquire of the
room, "Where is Polar Bear?" he, in his own good time, would
with great dignity appear. And so the two learned to adapt. Or rather, Amory did. He learned
that (1)cats do not travel, (2)cats do not take pills, (3)cats do
not walk on a leash, (4)cats do not go on diets, and (5) cats
will chose their own friends. He was a slow learner, but Polar
Bear was a patient teacher! This is a book every cat lover should read. It might even convert
those of you who own dogs. Amory has given us a great Christmas
present.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Warm, Funny Story to Read and Read Again., November 8, 2005
If you are a cat person, this book is a must for you. If you are not, it may give you insight on why we cat people love cats so much. One Christmas Eve, Cleveland Amory rescued a dirty, injured cat from a New York City alley. He took it to his apartment and concluded that the cat had never known human affection before. The cat tried frantically to escape, but Amory left out food, water and litter box, and went to bed. The next morning, he awoke to find the cat by his bed, staring at him. "Aeiou," the cat said. "Ow, yourself," Amory replied. "Merry Christmas." This began a touching friendship between cat and curmudgeon. Amory will entertain you with the many traits that he discovers about this big, white cat. Cats like routine and security. Cats do not like to travel, especially on airplanes. Cats do not like new objects or new people. Cats do not like dogs, other cats, or snakes. Above all, cats do not like vacuum sweepers. My cat, Duchess, feels exactly the same. The thing that she does like is to cuddle up close and purr until she goes to sleep. Amory talks to his cat throughout the book. Don't conclude that this is silly. I talk to my cat, and from her reactions I get the creepy feeling that she understands more than I would have imagined. Cats are among the most intelligent of mammals, but they did not evolve speech, so they will devise surprising charades to communicate with you. Amory not only entertains us in this book, he also shows the cat as a creature with feelings, expecially the feeling of affection.
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