My Beloved Monster
Masha, the Half-wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me
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4.6 • 60 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history.” –People Magazine (Book of the Week)
The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a linebacker—and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.
“Dares us to take a journey into love and pain . . . My Beloved Monster is a love story and a requiem.” –Wall Street Journal
“Excellent…Worth the emotional investment, and the tissues you will need by the end, to spend time with a writer and cat duo as extraordinary as Masha and Carr.” —Washington Post Book World
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.
For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests. When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb’s life-long study of the literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats, helped him decode much of Masha’s inner life. But their bond went far beyond academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests—a love story like no other.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Historian and best-selling suspense novelist Caleb Carr (The Alienist) has always been a cat person, but he knew the supposedly “unadoptable” force of nature that he named Masha was something special. In this brilliant and sometimes haunting autobiography, Carr remembers the 17 years he and Masha spent in his upstate New York country home. The son of an abusive father who was a minor literary celebrity during the Beat Generation, Carr prefers the company of cats to people—but his bond with Masha seems extra special, in part because of their shared histories of abuse. This is a tender and heartfelt memoir, but fair warning: If you’re troubled by animals in peril, tread lightly. (Masha, an indoor/outdoor cat, gets into some fearsome scrapes throughout.) Carr’s emotional bond with Masha shines through, as well as his love of researching what makes the human/cat relationship so unique.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist Carr (the Kreizler series) delivers a lively and moving memoir about his 17-year companionship with a Siberian forest cat named Masha. Carr first met Masha while visiting a shelter in Vermont. The semi-feral cat was rescued from abandonment in an empty apartment and had developed a reputation among the staff for extreme skittishness. When an employee noticed Masha cozying up to Carr, the attendant implored him to adopt her, and he promptly brought her along to his new home in Upstate New York. Masha quickly took on the dominant role—she hated loud music, so Caleb edited his listening habits to satisfy her—and over the pair's life together, Carr came into his own as a caretaker and a companion. He nursed Masha back to health after attacks from a bear and a pack of dogs, turned a blind eye when she stole visitors' socks, and tended to her arthritis as his own health started to falter and he underwent surgery for peritonitis. Carr alternates the chronicle of his and Masha's relationship with details about his unstable New York City childhood, which was marked by violent outbursts from an alcoholic father and drove him to find comfort in the family cats. Carr's gift for narrative momentum gives shape to the potentially flimsy premise, and he wrings real pathos from this tale of wounded souls finding one another. Even readers without their own furry friend will be moved.
Customer Reviews
A MUST READ…
If you can bear it. Be prepared for the end, because it will affect you greatly. This is one of the finest books about connections and grief possibly ever written. As companions to our many pets in life, it felt true on how we feel about the ones we’ve lost and still cry over. This is a book to treasure, with a profound message that applies to us all.
❤️ Masha
Wow! Poignant and moving. A beautiful relationship between human and feline. I’ve been cat dad to many over my lifetime and each one is different but they all end the same…with heartbreaking loss. I only hope I was able to give each a fraction of the love and joy they give me. Thanks for sharing this remarkable story Mr Carr.
Absolutely amazing
I truly enjoyed reading this story of the relationship between this man and his beloved cat. It took me 3 hours to read and by the time I got to the end I was in tears. We have a rescue cat who is magnificent as well and just had to put our rescue Chocolate Lab down. Thank you for sharing your and your beautiful cat’s story. Regards, Marci Clark