Reviews for It's like This, Cat

The average rating for It's like This, Cat based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-13 00:00:00 John Alatorre I resisted reading this book, because I retain a childhood prejudice against books with male narrators, and I still don't really like kids' books about animals. (It's not really THAT much about animals.) But I forced myself to read a chapter, and then another chapter, and then realized I was actually enjoying it!... It's kind of a strange book for a Newbery winner--it skews quite a bit older than most, for one thing, and it doesn't have a typical structure--although maybe that's what caught the committee's eye. It strikes me as being really Sixties. If you love New York books, well, here you go... this is one of the New Yorkiest of New York books I've read.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-12-16 00:00:00 Bertie Noland Emily Neville's 1964, Newbery prize-winning novel has the flavour of an indie movie, one that leans towards mumblecore, slice-of-life realism presented in informal, conversational tones. It's narrated by Dave, a 14-year-old New York schoolboy. He lives in an apartment with his loud-mouthed lawyer father and timid mother, collects Harry Belafonte records, and has a close bond with local eccentric Kate who lives for her collection of stray cats. Dave brings one home and their relationship opens up new friendships and a first girlfriend Mary. Instead of a plot Neville takes her readers on a tour of 1960s' New York, its fish markets, Jewish and Italian neighbourhoods and beyond. She has an oddly unsentimental, direct approach to her material, including the death of a pet, unreliable fathers, and a character who joins the army rather than wait for the draft - what's unspoken, and makes Neville's choice particularly jarring, is the fact that their likely destination would've been Vietnam. A curiosity as a children's book but it has a certain, offbeat charm and it's fascinating for its representation of a culture and a lost New York. The text's supported by a number of striking, black-and-white illustrations by Czech illustrator Emil Weiss, who took up residence in the U.S. after his time as a refugee from WW2 Europe.