‘Saw you with Boris, James,’ she smiled. ‘Did he see you all right?’
‘No he didn’t as a matter of fact,’ I said. ‘ He gave me a pile of Swiss Francs.’ [p. 146]
Read for the 52 Book Club reading challenge: I'd bought it years ago, along with A Street Cat Named Bob, which I read last summer and found uplifting and inspiring. This is very much more of the same: Bob is a characterful and opinionated cat, and confounds those who bother his human (including a thrilling, and rather gory, moment where he sees off a potential mugger). When James is ill, Bob tries to help him; when an interfering busybody tells James that Bob is unhappy and doesn't want to be with him, Bob 'gave the woman a really disdainful look, then padded his way back towards me. He began rubbing his head against the outside of my leg, and purring noisily'. [p. 25] Bob, sadly, does not attack Boris Johnson when he 'amusingly' donates a handful of Swiss francs, instead of actual spendable money, to James.
Reading this -- which is a quick and easy read -- inspired me to find out what had happened to Bob and James since their moments of fame. That made me sad. They'd moved to Carshalton, away from the inner city, on the proceeds of books and film. Bob had escaped and been hit by a car, and died: this sent James spiralling into depression, exacerbated by theft, assault and treachery. He lost the house, ended up back on the streets and (briefly) back on heroin. report in the Sun. Poor guy.
Fulfils the ‘Written by a ghostwriter’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge.
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