Review: Homer’s Odyssey
When a two-week old kitten was found and brought into Patricia Khuly’s veterinary office, she refused to euthanize him, in spite of the fact that she had to remove his eyes because of a severe eye infection. The kitten bounced back well from the surgery and seemed to have a sweet spirit. Dr. Khuly had worked with blind cats before and knew this one could live a full life, since it had never seen and wouldn’t know what it was missing out on. She couldn’t find anyone to take this kitten and, out of desperation, called Gwen Cooper.
Gwen agreed to take a look at the kitten, but made no promises, since she already owned two cats. Upon seeing the kitten, Gwen was smitten and agreed to take him, thus changing her life forever. She named the tiny little kitten Homer after the Greek poet. I admire Gwen and her willingness to adopt a cat no one else wanted. Homer is a sweet, adventurous cat who loves everyone and sometimes frightens Gwen with his fearlessness.
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is the story of Gwen’s life with Homer and her other two cats. As an animal lover, I fell in love with Homer and his sweet, adventurous spirit. He amazed me with his ability to adapt and his love of life.
This book started out with a bang for me, but dragged a little bit by the end. I realize that it was important to know about Gwen’s life in order to understand some of what was going on in the life of her cats, but I felt like the end of the book focused on Gwen and her relationship too much. Without Homer, her life wasn’t all that different from anyone else’s, so the end of the book didn’t pull me in the way the beginning did. I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it to animal lovers. Here’s a video of Gwen reading from her book and you can see Homer in it:
What a sweet little thing. We are total suckers for animals. If one wandered down my lane, tiny and blind, I would have to take him. I’ve heard of this book; I may have to read it.
I loved this book…maybe even a bit more than you. And I don’t really like cats all that much (hey, stop the booing folks) so that is really saying something!
I read this book awhile back. I enjoyed it too. I was happy that it didn’t have a sad ending like so many animal books do. Homer is an amazing cat!
I bet my mom would love this one!
Interesting review! Maybe it would have been a better magazine article so she didn’t have to fill it out with extraneous details.
I too admire her for taking in the kitten. But he sounds so cute and look how calm and comfortable Homer looks.
Homer’s story is amazing and inspiring!
This sounds like such a sweet book. My mom has it, I should borrow it from her!
Awwww. This sounds like a sweet book.I don’t normally read animal stories but it may be one for me. Great review.
I’m a big animal lover but if the book ends with Homer dying I can’t do it…I’ll cry my eyes out like I did over Marley and Me!
Awh..this sounds like a sweet story. Thanks for the review.
I love to read books about animals — this one kind of reminds me of A Cat Named Dewey. It is nice to see the real Homer too — he looks like a playful guy.
Aw, I loved the video. I’ve got this one on my wish list but with a newly-blind kitty in the house, I’m thinking I might have to bump this one up and place an order, soon. Maybe I’ll read it to the cat. She needs encouragement! 🙂
I am looking forward to reading this one–hopefully soon. I just picked up a copy for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I’m sure she’ll love it. 🙂
I have a hard time reading memoirs about animals and their companions where the animals passes away in the end and so was relieved when I found out that Homer is enjoying a happy life.
Thanks for the review, Kathy. I think I’ve also read another review of this book somewhere, but can’t remember from where. I love books about animals!
What a sweet story and a sweet little guy. I’m glad these two women took a chance on him.
I love animal stories, and this is one I never heard of. Sounds like an amazing kitty; I’ll have to look for it.
By the sounds of it you had the same problem with this book as I had with Dewey (the library cat). I was reading it for the cat and didn’t really care so much about the owner….
Great review, Kathy! I haven’t read this book yet but have read many reviews of it and I adore Homer. He’s definitely the star. I knew this book was also about the author who was figuring out her life and other things and I was curious how much was about her vs. Homer. Not many reviews talked about that. I’m glad you did!
What a sweetie Homer is! I have a hard time with animal stories. I always spend much of the time in tears.
I enjoyed this book. Homer was a sweetie.
I know my daughter would love this book. She is a huge cat person and loves these types of stories. I think I would also enjoy the book as well. I am going to see if I can grab a copy of this book for under the tree. I am sure it will be a hit!!
Sounds like a fascinating story. I don’t read too many animal books, but I’ll keep this one in mind.
–Anna
I love the real Homer’s Odyssey and this sounds like a fun animal book!