My reading helper, Cassie with a library copy of Bono In this marvellous memoir and travelogue of New York City, we meet Bono, a special-needs foster cat of writer Helen Brown. At loose ends after surviving cancer and feeling stale at home in Australia, the author decides to travel to New York and stay awhile, maybe forever. She has an upcoming book launch there anyway.
She’s not sure how this sojourn will affect Philip, her long-suffering husband of twenty-two years, a man “steady as a heartbeat.” Brown sighs, “I supposed it was inevitable that French kisses should morph into Sunday night pecks. Love has many layers. Sex can be transporting and addictive, but to lust after the same person over and over again is asking a lot of the imagination…. Hollywood seems to have little interest in portraying the everyday and astonishing achievement of sustaining love through all the reincarnations two people go through in a lifetime together.” At first, I was put off by the first couple of pages that probe dissatisfied feelings, but was hooked by the above words on page seven. The author has a way of expressing relatable personal dilemmas and insights in fresh ways that resonate beautifully. As Brown’s books (Cleo and Cats and Daughters) have a cat theme, her editor suggests that she foster a rescue cat while she’s in New York. Initially reluctant, her daughter, Lydia, who joins her for the first ten days, persuades her to help a needy cat. Enter a skittish Bono with serious medical challenges. At first, “I wasn’t even sure the creature qualified as a domestic cat. It looked more like a miniature lion. Apart from his oversized head, shaggy feet, and feather duster tip of his ridiculously long tail, he was entirely shaved.” (64) Despite the "cat shelter heaven" conditions of Bideawee, Bono found life there stressful either confined to his cage, or in group time when he was overwhelmed by other cats who were invariably larger than he was. At the studio apartment which Brown and her daughter rented for a month, Bono escapes the closet-like “bunker” where he was supposed to acclimate himself, working his way up the disused fireplace. After pulling him out and blocking that exit, it’s another struggle to get his daily pill down his throat. Befriending the kitty who tends to stay under the bed is difficult, but with patience, Bono comes around on his own terms. The relief as their connection grows makes the relationship more meaningful. An unexpected benefit of fostering is that New Yorkers who otherwise may have been distant become a caring community. A pet store owner offers free cat litter. Another provides a food dish. Many are moved that a mere short-term visitor has agreed to foster a special-needs cat. Finding a family for Bono in just one month in New York is challenging. Although the feline becomes famous after her editor encourages a blog on the Huffington Post, where are the adopters? When one contact seems promising, Brown is unimpressed with mere admiration of Bono’s photo. “The whole world was infatuated with Bono. He needed love with its sleeves rolled up.” Love with its sleeves rolled up. What a marvellous metaphor! Another side benefit of fostering is that Brown finds herself bonding with her daughter in new ways, as she sees Lydia's love for the scraggly foster cat. At the same time, the author learns how to live with an open heart, and we see something of the answer to Hollywood’s lack on the miracle of sustaining love. Sadly, the kitty on the cover was not Bono but a look-a-like. Was the reality too gritty for the publisher? It wouldn't have deterred me. This is a lovely, lovely work that will have me searching for Brown’s earlier bestselling memoirs. Undoubtedly it will also encourage others to foster cats when travelling, or in general, and help to meet the unending need for foster families. - Irene Plett Details: Helen Brown, Bono: The Amazing Story of a Rescue Cat Who Inspired a Community (2018: Citadel Press: Kensington Publishing Corp., ISBN 9780806538457), quotations on pages 7, 31, 63, 64, and 190. Topics: cat rescue, cat writers, fostering cats, New York, Bidawee, cat travel
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