Cat Society
Ray Sadri
304 pages
Book Guild Publishing
September 19, 2023
Amazon | Goodreads
Joanna’s thoughts:
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Cat Society is an entertaining and irreverent satire set in a fantasy version of England, where cats have replaced people after the unexplained extinction of the human species. The main characters are all politicians, which is unusual enough in itself, and even the “hero” is not particularly sympathetic, so this book would appeal principally to those who love cats AND have at least a passing interest in the British political system. I enjoyed the originality of the concept and the rather silly humour – and trying to work out which real life characters were being lampooned.
Douglas Schnitty is an ambitious backbench Member of Parliament from the ruling Freedom Cat Party, who is on a crusade to help the thousands of felines left homeless by the reckless actions of the previous government, the left-wing Cats’ Collective. Having overcome a personal tragedy, he’s devastated to lose his mansion to his scheming ex-wife and find himself also homeless. He believes he could do a better job than the Tryhard current Prime Minister Marjorie Wilson, but finds himself up against the inexplicably popular and bombastic Bon Vivant Hector Perp Pahpousson in his drive to become Top Cat.
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this, but as a cat lover had fun with the mash-up of recognisable kitty behaviour and cynical parliamentary scheming. I’m originally from the UK, but have been away a long time so probably missed a lot of the in-jokes, but thought the excerpts from The Meowington Times and The Daily Mog were hilarious. Some parts were also surprisingly sad. I was slightly disappointed by the ending which left things rather open – perhaps a sequel is planned? Overall 3.5 rounded up for not taking itself seriously at all.
Kristie’s thoughts:
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This was a fun imagining of what society would look like in a world run by cats. I have to say, they’re not far off the mark here with the way politicians are portrayed, but the fact that everything is sprinkled with cat references and jokes made it that much more meowgical.
An interesting look at how ridiculous some things can be if we take out the human components, but also how similar they can stay.
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