Matt McAvoy Book Review

Whilst much of this book is generally quite amusing, I never really felt that there were any laugh-out-loud moments, of which I would have liked to see a few.  Rather, the comedy is more chaotic in nature than witty.  As you might expect, this tale of misadventures told from a cat’s point of view is very adult-orientated, with strong language and bawdy humour, resembling those grown-up cartoons which made the rounds in the 1980s and ‘90s.  Felix is portrayed rather more as a teenage lad out for a good time in the body of a cat.  Beyond this, it doesn’t tend to go too deeply into anything.  The whole story is narrated in first person, rough vernacular, and some of this did grate me a little bit; the continuous -ifying of verbs throughout lost its endearing quality after a while.  I would also say that there were quite a lot of grammar issues, though because of the vernacular these didn’t seem quite so important as they otherwise might have been, hidden in the prose as they were.

Clearly a book written by a cat lover and intrigued, affectionate observer of feline behaviour, I felt there were many more adventures Felix could have got into – and I’m sure he will, in sequels which are bound to follow.  Focusing on the nine lives of Felix being depleted one by one, following his escape from an abusive home, it has to be said that there are some very dark and indeed quite cruel themes in this book.  Whilst this was not the book to wallow too seriously in those, at times still perhaps there was a flippancy which felt just a little wrong.  I think the idea at times was a Tom and Jerry-style slapstick and cartoonish violence, but that perhaps wasn’t so easy to portray on a page.

I have to be honest and say that, if you like bawdy, cartoon-style, adult comedy, you may like this scattered, fun narrative, but in truth it wasn’t my cup of tea, though that is merely a taste thing.  Furthermore, I felt that it relied quite heavily on the vernacular of its main character to hide its several shortcomings.  Still, it’s a fun book, and definitely will appeal to a good number of readers who don’t want to take their reading too seriously, and prefer the lighter side of life.