It was one of the biggest changes that Bob had brought with him. Thanks to him I’d rediscovered the good side of human nature. I had begun to place my trust - and faith - in people again. [p. 186]
James Bowen was drug-dependent (methadone), busking for money, trying to get by in London. Bob was injured, homeless, and a cat. They adopted one another and cared for one another and both had better lives through their friendship. That's a quick summary of a straightforward, simply written and emotionally satisfying book. It made me (a) go and hug my own rescued cat (b) remember a friend's encounter with Bob and James -- possibly around the time this book was first published, as her partner came home with a copy of it while she was recounting her experience.
Bob sounds like an exceptional cat: happy to wear a harness, self-taught user of human toilets, able to navigate over a mile through Islington to a place he'd only been once. And James' determination to be a better person just for his cat made me very happy. "Someone said to me once that we were the reincarnation of Dick Whittington and his cat. Except the roles had been reversed this time around, Dick Whittington had come back as Bob - and I was his companion. I didn’t have a problem with that. I was happy to think of him in that way. Bob is my best mate and the one who has guided me towards a different - and a better - way of life." [p. 274].
Fulfils the ‘Turned into a Movie or TV Series’ rubric of the Annual Non-Fiction Reading Challenge.
Could have been for Shop Your Shelves Bingo, Summer 2023: purchased 01 AUG 2017.
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