Friday, June 6, 2014

Flashback Friday Review: Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

Flashback Fridays is a weekly meme that was created by The Autumn Review. You have to have read the book at least one year ago. You can spotlight, review or re-review your selection. If you'd like to participate, please leave your link at The Autumn Review! For Flashback Fridays I'm doing mini reviews on books I read before I started blogging.



Homer's Odyssey
Once in nine lives, something extraordinary happens... 

The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen’s veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who’d been abandoned. It was love at first sight.


Everyone warned that Homer would always be an "underachiever," never as playful or independent as other cats. But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo, a tiny daredevil with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease and leapt five feet into the air to catch flies in mid-buzz. He survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen’s life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night.


But it was Homer’s unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love, and his joy in the face of all obstacles that inspired Gwen daily and transformed her life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized Homer had taught her the most important lesson of all: Love isn’t something you see with your eyes.


Homer’s Odyssey is the once-in-a-lifetime story of an extraordinary cat and his human companion. It celebrates the refusal to accept limits—on love, ability, or hope against overwhelming odds. By turns jubilant and moving, it’s a memoir for anybody who’s ever fallen completely and helplessly in love with a pet.


I saw this book at Costco and just picked it up on a whim because I saw the cat and I love cats! Every great once in a while I enjoy a good non-fiction. It's nice to hear about real love and possibilities. Gwen adopted Homer even though she already had two cats and life wasn't going so well for her. She feel in love with him. An abandoned blind kitten who would need extra care. She couldn't move things to different places in the house because it was hard for him to adjust. But over time he adjusted well. Even though he was blind he would still climb bookcases and could even catch flies.

This is very much about both Homer and Gwen and how they affected each other. Gwen goes through a lot of changes. She has to move back home and then move to New York for a new job but Homer goes along through her journey. We hear about her bad dates including one guy that even picked on Homer cause he was a black cat and believed the super situation that black cats bring bad luck. Gwen's apartment was close to the twin towers and she had to join a humane society group to go back in to retrieve pets. An intruder breaks in one day and Homer the little blind cat that they weren't sure would make it actually growls and wakes up Gwen and chases the intruder away.

It was a very sweet and inspiring story and includes pictures of Homer. Gwen even meets a special someone and talks about the big moving in together and making sure he gets along with Homer and has night lights put in so he doesn't trip over Homer in the night. LOL Gwen went through so many changes and I was able to relate well to her and it was a nice change to know she was a real person. I haven't read any non-fiction in a long time so I think I might pick up a couple more.




"My philosophy when it came to pets was much like that of having children: You got what you got, and you loved them unconditionally regardless of whatever their personalities or flaws turned out to be."


"A friend once asked me why it was that stories about animals and their heroism...are so compelling.
...we love them because they're the closest thing we have to material evidence of an objective moral order--or, to put it another way, they're the closest thing we have to proof of the existence of God. They seem to prove that the things that matter to and move us the most--things like love, courage, loyalty, altruism--aren't just ideas we made up from nothing. To see them demonstrated in other animals proves they're real things, that they exist in the world independently of what humans invent and tell each other in the form of myth or fable." 

Rating: 4/5

5 comments:

  1. What a cool meme. A nice way to feature books before you started blogging. This sounds like a sweet book. Not necessarily for me, but still good.

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  2. I'm not even a cat lover and I want to read this. Adorable!
    Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics

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  3. Ahh Homer sounds like such a sweet kitty. I am glad your impulse buy paid off for you!

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  4. WOW! I actually don't read non-fiction that often either, but this sounds amazing. Homer and Gwen both sound great. I am definitely going to be checking this out. Glad you enjoyed this, Jennifer! Great review! :D

    ~ Maida
    Literary Love Affair 

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  5. Thanks for sharing Jennifer! Sorry I'm so late to reply. :/

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