Book review
A fable about a boy who heals his loneliness through a fantasy journey where unexplained forces thrust him into the life of a stray cat in post-war London. I read it as a child when I was about 10yo and recently read it to me almost 7yo daughter, so I’m reviewing this partly as a reader and partly as a parent.
The experience of being a cat is delightfully observed. (We have just adopted two cats, one of them a female tabby not dissimilar to Jennie, and my daughter was particularly fascinated to understand their behaviour and habits.)
I loved the little details of everyday life from this time, which has some of the grit of street life but presented with a light enough touch for my daughter not to be overwhelmed. Some dated remarks are made about gender roles, but this is not too problematic in the context, given Jennie is such a vibrant, independent, level-headed female main character, and the relationship between her and Peter is one based on kindness and mutual respect.
I felt pretty comfortable reading this to my almost 7yo, although I was glad to be there to talk her through some of the more full on aspects. There are some very sad moments in this story dealing with death and abandonment. They are not graphic, but they are very emotional. At one point Peter makes some fairly thoughtless choices and when he wakes up to himself it looks as though he may have really screwed up – and my daughter was really affected. At another point, Jennie tries to rectify some unkind behaviour of her own and is devastated when it is too late, a point the book does not gloss over or try to cure with happy circumstance. One situation presented was a toxic friendship, complete with gaslighting and emotional abuse. Despite the content being child friendly, there are some quite heavy emotional themes, but they are handled with insight and compassion, so I found they gave us a chance to talk about those themes and for my daughter to consider and process the situations.
I vaguely remembered feeling upset and frustrated by the ending as a child. I can see from the reviews here that some people loved it and some thought it was lame. One reviewer suggested it was a story similar in concept to the Wizard of Oz, which is not far off the mark. But actually I thought that in essence the plot is a child’s version of Fight Club. I read Gallico to be saying with the ending that Jennie was Peter’s own self-love and resilience personified. Initially he did not recognise these qualities in himself, so he projected them onto the fantasy of a motherly, capable, present friend. Through their adventures he learned by imitating her how to care for himself, how to find his own resilience, and ultimately faces adversity without her assistance before ultimately accepting she is literally a part of himself. My 6yo didn’t get this, though. She was a bit baffled at what happened to Jennie, but kind of vaguely satisfied that Peter got his parents back and got a cat.
- Goodreads rating – 4.29
- REVIEW – Alex West