A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen

When James Bowen found an injured, ginger street cat curled up in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James was living hand to mouth on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet.
Yet James couldn't resist helping the strikingly intelligent tom cat, whom he quickly christened Bob. He slowly nursed Bob back to health and then sent the cat on his way, imagining he would never see him again. But Bob had other ideas.
Soon the two were inseparable and their diverse, comic and occasionally dangerous adventures would transform both their lives, slowly healing the scars of each other's troubled pasts.

I came across A Street Cat Named Bob on Goodreads a while back, but I never got around to marking it as to-read and as such forgot about it completely, until it was suddenly right in front of me on a table in Waterstones on Oxford Street - and missing my own cat quite terribly I just had to have it!

That turned out to be a very good spontaneous purchase. The book is so sweet! It's not -just- a cute cat book - this is a book that tells the story of a recovering drug addict barely getting by, struggling to make a living as a busker (for those who like me who had never encountered this word before, it means street musician).

The story is very touching, and knowing that it's real, just makes it hit that much harder. Bob is quite obviously a very clever cat, but he also adopted a very clever human to take care of him. James is a good guy. He doesn't hide in the book that he's led a rough life and he tells you of the hardship he went though to get back on track. I think you might need to be a cat lover to really love this book, as it does quite obviously focus on the glory that it is to be a cat owner, but you also need to be aware that this isn't a fairytale.

All in all, the writing is a bit rough around the edges, but the story is adorable and quite heart-warming. It's a quick read, but the story lingers.

Fun fact: Bowen has now written a total of 7 books, all about Bob. A few are picture books for children, one is a sequel to A Street Cat Named Bob and the newest from 2014 is a Christmas book. I do not judge James the slightest for making as much money as possible on this, as he truly seems to take really good care of Bob and the money from the books also ensure that he (the cat) gets the good warm life any and all cats deserve.

A STREET CAT NAMED BOB: HOW ONE MAN AND HIS CAT FOUND HOPE ON THE STREETS Bob The Cat #1 by James Bowen ISBN13: 9781444737110 279 pages / Published in 2012

Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2015