Sleeping with Cats: A Memoir

I copied out chunks of this book as much resonated with my own life. Her relationship with her mother, what she found upon her mother's death. The deaths of her cats. The rest that I had nothing in common with was well described and interesting and though there were bits that were hard to read (mainly the realization that all that energy and time spent by so many passionate, involved women has gone for naught as the political climate has changed again and women are being regressed to chattel). I wondered as I finished the book what the writer thought of the present day at age 85.

Piercy's characterization of her cats is wonderful! Her life experiences are so different from my own, and she tells her history with the acknowledgement of memory's fallibility and an interesting admittance of her own faults. I wish she had talked more about her works of poetry and fiction and how they fit into her life.

Piercy has crafted a well written memoir that is political, feminine, literary, but most importantly human and universally touching, with her feline companions at the center of it all. A brilliant recollection by a gifted writer.

Novelist, socialist, poet, feminist, married three times, lots of cats. Sensitive description of the cats and open discussion of her life.

Hell of a life! I cried when cats died. Amazing experiences.

Memoir of a talented and important American author