Guest book review by Peter J Wolf
There are, it seems to me, two approaches to writing a good adventure story. A writer can either draw the reader anxiously along toward an uncertain ending, or disclose the outcome up front and let the reader settle into the adventure itself. I don’t imagine either approach is easy, but the writer who gives away the ending, does, I think, take on some particularly daunting challenges. To do it well—to produce a page-turner—as Allan Goldstein has done with The Confessions of a Catnip Junkie, is therefore commendable.
Catnip Junkie is the story of two-year-old Doo Doo, a restless orange tabby whose curiosity takes him coast-to-coast and back again, told from the perspective of an older, much wiser cat. “I am two cats,” he says. “The Doo Doo who was born of this story and the Doo Doo who lived it, fourteen years ago.”
Perhaps it’s this dual role that makes Doo Doo such a charismatic narrator, his confessions so compelling. Speaking of which, I have a confession of my own: I was a little hesitant to delve into Catnip Junkie. Four-hundred pages of cat-speak? Really? (Confession #2: I do talk to my cats, and more often than not reply—a different voice for each of them—on their behalf. Still, I do my best to spare others.) Once I picked it up, though, I found the book difficult to put down—due, in no small part, to the numerous scrapes recounted by a feline protagonist once “full of lust, mostly wanderlust.”
“I have dreams of that used-to-be-me cat being trapped all the time. He was always plotting an escape, making an escape, escaping. I wonder, how could a cat get himself stuck so often? Fourteen years later that is still a marvel to me, even more than his whiskersbreadth escapes. He still brags about those, the cat-who-used-to-be-me thought he was pretty slick. He was, but he was also an idiot. I can see that now, but he couldn’t.”
But Catnip Junkie is surprisingly touching, too—more so, I suppose, for anybody who’s ever had a cat go missing. In the end, the need to be with his people proves more powerful than the catnip that lured him away. “Having loving humans,” confesses Doo Doo, is “like the late-morning sun on your back, a belly full of food, and a head floating in the bright clouds of nipland, only better.”
With motivation like that, it’s no wonder this hero’s journey is such a delight to settle into.
ENTER TO WIN!
One lucky reader is going to receive a copy of The Confessions of a Catnip Junkie. To enter, please leave a comment on this post. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on September 29. One entry per person. This giveaway includes free shipping to addresses in the US and Canada.
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:05 am
Buffy & Spike would like me to read this to them.
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:32 am
I love a good page turner and this sounds like one Fauve would love to have me read out loud as she basks in her favorite sunspot.
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:38 am
Sound interesting!
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:59 am
Sounds like just the book for me to read to my cat Lola, now that we’ve finished A Tail of Two Kitties. She loves feline lit!
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:29 am
Looks like a fun read!
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 am
THis book sounds heart-warming. A must read!
-Gail
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:46 am
Great review – makes me want to read the book.
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:07 am
sounds like a fun read
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:10 am
Sounds like a wonderful adventure!
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 am
I also think it sounds like a fun read. Would make a nice gift for my cat-loving friends as well.
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:36 am
always looking for new reading material, so thanks for the description. The title is also very fitting for my little kitty!
September 23rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
Intriguing! The title certainly made me smile!
September 23rd, 2010 at 11:39 am
Yes, I must confess, I had the same reaction when I saw this post. A cat-speak novel??? But with the excerpts and your review of it, I’m now very intrigued.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Great review! I look forward to reading it!
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Doo Doo looks almost identical to my Alan Jackson at home. He was my moms and came to live with us b/4 she passed. We were so attached to him by then we could not bear to find a new home for him so he has stayed and is the best cat EVER! He would sit on my lap with his head on my hand and listen to this book for sure!
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
What a wonderful way to imagine and capture what our furry friends think and say if they could only speak to us.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Sounds like a fun read! I’ll keep an eye out for this at the bookstore or library.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Looking forward to reading this book!
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:11 pm
I Just About done reading my Very Heavy trilogy series right now. I am DUE for some FUN reading!
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:39 pm
What a neat sounding book!
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:45 pm
sounds like a fun book to read
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:52 pm
How fun!!!!!!
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:12 pm
catnip can get the best of us all; my kitties are looking forward to eating…i mean reading the book.
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Great title! Sounds like it would be a great read. I know Louie would like to hear it.
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I have never read a book written from that perspective.
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:22 pm
What an interesting story this must be.
September 23rd, 2010 at 7:26 pm
This looks like a wonderful book! I would love to win a copy and read it.
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Would love a good book to read that isn’t another textbook…lol!
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Will have to check this book out, sounds interesting!
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:26 pm
fun reading and great coffee table book
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I’m not much of a reader, but this book has my attention. Would love to win & read it. And maybe pass on to another cat-person to enjoy. Who would do the same. And so on and so on….
September 24th, 2010 at 6:07 am
Sounds like a neat book and fun too.
September 24th, 2010 at 7:03 am
we luvs our catnip…meow
September 24th, 2010 at 7:30 am
This book sounds very interesting. I love the title! I have a couple of catnip junkies
September 24th, 2010 at 8:01 am
I am one who judges a book by its cover, and I love the cover pic of that cat! Looks like a good story!
September 24th, 2010 at 8:09 am
This sounds like a great read! It sounds intriguing.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:33 am
My cat Raji & I can’t wait to cuddle by the fireplace and read this book!
September 24th, 2010 at 10:29 am
a must read!! got to get it!
September 24th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Wow, I’d love to have this book. I had a runaway once, and he never came back… =( Reading this history with my hubby and our 2 baby cats will be an awesome time together!
September 24th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Sounds like a good book! I’d love to read it
September 24th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Sounds interesting, my wife and I would both read this one.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
What a charming idea for a plot. I suppose most of us who post on this site hope that our own furry friends will care more for their humans than for freedom & wanderlust.
September 24th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
That sounds fantastic!
September 24th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
I am going to read this book no matter what:)
September 24th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
My husband would chuckle at me for reading this, and then read it himself.
September 24th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
This is a must have for my library and is going on my Christmas wish list.
September 24th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
We confess! We’re junkies too! – Max, Zeke, Gwynyth and Le’alani
September 25th, 2010 at 9:39 am
Sounds like alotta fun, I would have to read it out loud to both mine and hope they get no big ideas themselves !
September 25th, 2010 at 11:42 am
love the title!
September 25th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
My catnip junkie and I would love to read this book together!