Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Life and Love with a Blind Wonder Cat by Gwen Cooper

Homer was a little black kitten discovered by a couple and brought to the vet with a severe eye infection. He could be cured, but only by completely removing his eyes. The people who found him, though, didn't want to take him, and so the vet called a friend of hers, Gwen Cooper, to come see him.

Gwen surprised not only the Vet, but herself, by agreeing taking the little kitten home with her. She'd just broken up with her boyfriend, and she was already at the two cat limit- beyond that, people would begin to wonder if she'd turn into the crazy cat lady when she grew older. And yes, she already had two cats- Sabrina and Vashti, both female and both used to living with her alone. Would she be able to take care of a kitten who would probably live all his life frightened and alone?

But the kitten, who she named Homer after the blind storyteller, was remarkably friendly, loving and self sufficient, taking risks no one would dare, simply because he was blind and couldn't see them, and he turned into a remarkable cat- able to catch mosquitos with a mid-air leap and getting around using his phenomenal hearing. And while Gwen lost her job and eventually had to move home to her parents house, Homer and her other cats were there beside her every step of the way. Homer even won over her dog-loving parents.

Though she started life in South Beach, Florida, Gwen eventually moved to New York, where she eventually found love and happiness. But just before her marriage, Homer fell gravely ill from a frightening, unknown illness that made him unwilling to eat. This was dangerous, since Homer has always been a small cat, no more than 3 pounds, probably from his young life as a stray or a cat born to a stray. Would Homer recover? Would Gwen lose the kitten and cat that had taught her so much?

Well, no. But Homer, just like the rest of her cats, is getting older, becoming less spry and more inclined to nap in a sunbeam for most of the day. But no matter what the future brings for Homer, he's already had a life lived in triumph. What more could a cat, or his human, ask for at the end of the day?

I was worried that this was going to be one of those books where the pet dies at the end and the book turns into a five-hanky cryfest. But I needn't have worried on that score. Reading about Homer's life was really amusing and uplifting, although we are left at the end with the knowledge that, of course, Homer won't live forever. But he won't need to when we have such stories to remember him by.

This is book that uplifts, makes you laugh, makes you cry (in a good way, mind you), and makes you wish for a cat of your very own, one as smart and cute as Homer. The story of Homer's life is of a cat who everyone expected to be limited, but who lived his life beyond those limits, whose only fear was being alone.

Perhaps we all need to live beyond what other people see as our limits, to realize that our only limits are the ones we acknowledge and accept, and that we are capable of far more than we know- if only we try. I recommend this book for the story and the lessons we can all learn from Homer's story. Recommended.