Catphabet. By Jo Stewart. Illustrations by Meredith Jensen.
Harper by Design. $16.99.
Cats are never just cats. They
are always representatives of something: of grace, of mischief, of elegance, of
orneriness, of uncontrollability (“like herding cats” is a way of denoting
impossibility). And because there is always more to cats than mere felinity
(not that there is anything “mere” about that), the alphabetical arrangement of
Catphabet by characteristics rather
than breed makes perfect sense. It also invites cat lovers everywhere to decide
whether their evaluation of specific
cats’ cat-itudes agrees with those written down by Jo Stewart and illustrated
amply and exuberantly by Meredith Jensen.
Yes, Catphabet runs from A
(“athletic”) to Z (“zoomies”). And yes, every descriptive characteristic is
assigned to a specific breed of cat – but given felines’ predilection for
quicksilver personality and behavioral changes, a descriptor that fits one type
of cat at one particular time may not be appropriate later. Or earlier.
Still, there is something to be said for trying to decipher cat personality and behavior based on breed. “B
is for bond,” for example, is said to relate to “beautiful Birmans [that] love
to attach themselves to their favorite humans.” And “G is for genie” goes with
ragdolls, “blue-eyed beauties [that] sport a lustrous coat, magnificent bushy
tail and distinctive markings.” The march through the alphabet is full of these
observations. “J is for jovial” is said to apply to “happy-go-lucky Tonkinese
cats [that] adore being around people so much they’re often compared to dogs,”
while “O is for outgoing” refers to the “gregarious, friendly and social”
Turkish Van. That is one of several cat breeds with which readers of Catphabet may not be familiar – but
everyone will immediately know about “R is for rescue,” which portrays half a
dozen examples of domestic house cats, “mixed-breed moggies [this book was
first published in Australia] like Torties and Tabbies [that] are neighbourhood
[sic] legends.”
A few of the entries here are unsurprising, such as “T is for tailless,”
relating to the Manx, and “I is for imposing,” referring to the very large
Maine Coon. But some letters, although associated by the book’s creators with
specific cat types, could just as well apply to other felines: “E is for
exquisite” does indeed relate to the Siberian, but to others as well, and
surely “N is for noble” applies well beyond the Abyssinian that receives the
adjective here.
This is, of course, part of the enjoyment of the book: deciding the extent to which specific associations go along with one’s own perception of cats, or do not. It is also fascinating to find out about cats that one may not know at all: the Selkirk Rex, Norwegian Forest Cat, Egyptian Mau, Devon Rex and Chartreux all make appearances in these pages. Because the alphabetical element here is descriptive rather than based on these cats’ breeds, readers interested in a more-organized approach to all the included felines will want to turn to the back of the book, a six-page “Kitty Club” listing all the cats in the book alphabetically by type and giving tidbits of information on the lifespan, likes and dislikes of each. Again, some of these characteristics may apply to felines other than the ones to which the attributes are attached: the Birman is said to dislike “seeing other pets receive attention,” but that scarcely seems like a Birman-specific description! Still, given felines’ reputation for being aloof and frequently solitary, it is interesting to discover that numerous cats are said to dislike being left alone: the Oriental Shorthair, Siamese, Snowshoe and others are said to share this characteristic. Be that as it may, cat fanciers are sure to have their own opinions about beings of the feline persuasion reinforced, challenged, contradicted or underlined – all in a thoroughly enjoyable context – by Catphabet, a book that will certainly not lay to rest the numerous contradictory opinions about cats or, for that matter, the numerous contradictory elements of their always-intriguing personalities.
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