9th Book of the Year
Thirteen Cats LaVelle
By: Desmond LaVelle
This book is a short collection of memoirs written by the eldest son of the title family. It follows the stories of the LaVelle family and the lives and sometimes gruesome, always untimely deaths of their family cats. I was excited about this book having read the teaser chapter on the titles website - it turns out that the teaser chapter was the most entertaining of the entire book.
There were a few giggles in the book. The family dynamics are the best part of the whole story. The so-spot-on-it-has-to-be-true tales of his sisters and adolescence and growing up are at times, heart-warming and relate-able. Other times it gets a bit redundant and dull. The deaths of the cats come across cold and uncaring, so you really wind up disliking this family by mid-book. I don't know if its the way the author wrote them, or if they really are that dumb - its unclear. Whats more unclear is why on earth Desmond LaVelle would want to tell the things he did about his family.
Also, there are 14 cats?! I don't know if its because he squished 2 cats into the same chapter so is just counting them as 1 (which is retarded) or if its because the last cat, Hugo, wasn't dead by the end of his chapter so maybe he was saying 13 (dead) Cats... and 1 living. Either way, the title is humorously incorrect.
Definitely the first book of an amateur writer.
In short - skip it.
By: Desmond LaVelle
This book is a short collection of memoirs written by the eldest son of the title family. It follows the stories of the LaVelle family and the lives and sometimes gruesome, always untimely deaths of their family cats. I was excited about this book having read the teaser chapter on the titles website - it turns out that the teaser chapter was the most entertaining of the entire book.
There were a few giggles in the book. The family dynamics are the best part of the whole story. The so-spot-on-it-has-to-be-true tales of his sisters and adolescence and growing up are at times, heart-warming and relate-able. Other times it gets a bit redundant and dull. The deaths of the cats come across cold and uncaring, so you really wind up disliking this family by mid-book. I don't know if its the way the author wrote them, or if they really are that dumb - its unclear. Whats more unclear is why on earth Desmond LaVelle would want to tell the things he did about his family.
Also, there are 14 cats?! I don't know if its because he squished 2 cats into the same chapter so is just counting them as 1 (which is retarded) or if its because the last cat, Hugo, wasn't dead by the end of his chapter so maybe he was saying 13 (dead) Cats... and 1 living. Either way, the title is humorously incorrect.
Definitely the first book of an amateur writer.
In short - skip it.