The I Index

My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me

Top of the pile

78

/100

I Index Overall Rating

Readers

89/100

Critics

67/100

Scholars

N/A

Author:

Caleb Carr

Publisher:

Little, Brown and Company

Date:

April 16, 2024

Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior.

What The Reviewers Say

Brandy Schillace,
The Wall Street Journal
Devastating and beautiful, by turns a fascinating book of animal psychology and a personal memoir of unrelenting trauma, it dares us to take a journey into love and pain.
Chris Bohjalian,
The Washington Post
What makes the book so moving is that it is not merely the saga of a great cat.
Alexandra Jacobs,
The New York Times
A loving and lovely, lay-it-all-on-the-line explication of one man’s fierce attachment. If you love cats and feel slightly sheepish about it, it’s a sturdy defense weapon. If you hate them, well, there’s no hope for you..
Barbara Jacobs,
Booklist
Tears will flow, and they will be warranted..