Esme

This was my favorite read of 2022. It is a gentle, bittersweet read that manages to be sad and inspiring at the same time. I absolutely loved this story as it unfolded and revealed the great love of one man for his friends and one cat for this man.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by George Blagden whose nuanced reading really enhanced the text of the book. I particularly enjoyed the snark he added to the cat's voice. It was perfect.  I particularly loved this line from the cat: “Humans who think we don't understand them are the stupid ones.”

This book is the story of a journey, both physical and emotional. It is filled with humor, wonder, and beauty. As the cat says of the journey: “At that moment, we were without doubt the greatest travellers in the world. And I was the world's greatest travelling cat.” 

This book is something that you should not miss if you've ever been loved by a cat. Perhaps even if you haven't.

This book was published in 1990, but the audiobook version I listened to was recorded by Kingsolver herself in 2018. My initial reaction was that she should have gotten a professional narrator, but within the first hour, I changed my mind. Her voice in this story is so personal and she allows the emotion to come out in the narration. I felt it added an additional layer of meaning to the text, which is already a treasure. While I know that people are very focused on reading contemporary texts or older classic texts, don't sleep on this one. It is wonderful, gentle, and both sad and inspiring.

There is no plot. There are just a bunch of rich people behaving badly. They have no self-respect, no boundaries. They self-medicate by drinking 24-7. They dehumanize anyone they perceive as beneath them. The characters are well drawn but there are no character arcs and no reason to care about any of them. The prose is spare, and in a lot of places reads just like a bad diary entry listing all the things they did that day, but without giving any reason for listing them. I would have DNF'd except I read it with a book club.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by BJ Harrison and this review pertains to that version.

The narration is masterful, as I have come to expect from Harrison. This was a challenging story to narrate as there is a huge cast of characters to differentiate, but Harrison is up to the challenge. I can honestly say that I would never have finished this book in a written form, but the audio kept me riveted. I listened well past midnight and into the wee hours on a work night because once Rebecca was on trial, I couldn't stop until I was done.

The anti-semitism is offputting at first, but then it becomes the heart of the story as we see the evolution of several characters as they interact with Rebecca. She is the most fully developed character in the piece, and her integrity, faith, and gentle spirit inspired me as it did those characters who allowed themselves to know her. As this happened, my initial horror at the anti-semitism was transformed into hope that good people even in our day can overcome entrenched bigotry. I am glad I continued listening despite my initial reaction.