Felidae

Felidae #1

by Akif Pirinçci

An internationally acclaimed suspense novel features the adventures of Francis, a house cat who, in trying to catch the murderer of his feline friends, meets up with a bizarre cat cult, a kitty computer whiz, and a perceptive Persian.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Cats, Animals, Fantasy, Thriller

292 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Akif Pirinçci (pronunciation: [piːʁɪntʃi]) is a German writer of Turkish origin who is best known internationally for his novel Felidae.

Pirinçci was born on the 20th October 1959 in Istanbul, Turkey, but emigrated to Germany together with his parents in 1969. He began to write fiction at a young age, and published his first novel Tränen sind immer das Ende (literally, "tears always are the end") in 1980, at the age of 21. His next literary work, published in 1989, was the novel Felidae, a work of crime fiction with cats as the main protagonists. The novel has been translated into 17 languages and became an international bestseller. Due to the enormous success of the novel, Pirinçci expanded his concept of "cat crime fiction" and published several sequels to Felidae, out of which two, namely Francis (Felidae II) and Salve Roma, have been translated into English. An animated movie based on Felidae, the script of which had been co-written by Pirinçci, was produced in Germany in 1994, and was also dubbed in English. Pirinçci has published several other novels which were not set in the fictional reality of the Felidae series. Of these, his novel Die Damalstür -- based on which a movie was produced in Germany as well, and which is currently also under consideration for screen adaptation in Hollywood -- was recently translated and published in English under the title The Back Door.

Pirinçci currently lives in Bonn, the former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Reviews

[Nemo ☠️ (pagesandprozac) · Rating 5 out of 5]

truly astonishing how someone who wrote what is essentially an allegory against nationalist eugenics is very far-right wing and basically every type of bigot you can possibly envisage. did he read his own novel? was this novel the work of a tiny, tiny part of his subconsciousness that was raging at the fact that the main part of his consciousness was an absolute nazi trainwreck? we may never know.

no, literally, how the fuck can someone write an anti-eugenics book and then be a neo-Nazi?? how the f-

anyway i'm going to stop being political now (he says, as though his Politics Mode can even be turned off) and talk about the book itself.

~*~THE BOOK!!~*~

so i'd never heard of this until my auntie's boyfriend lent it to me and said "you'll really like this" and damn, i didn't know he knew me so well??

if i had to sum up this book in a sentence it would probably be "a gothic, gory version of Garfield in which Garfield is actually a feline philosophical detective" and if that doesn't get your attention i don't know what will.

like mentioned, it's anti-eugenics. it's anti-master race. it's anti-dictatorship. (so how the fuck does the author hold the beliefs he does, what the f- ok nemo you've already mentioned this, sssh, the book, talk about the book). despite dealing with dark subject matter, it ends on a positive note (which is my favourite sort of book), and basically says that although life can be really shit and dark at times, it's not always like that and we should always have hope and faith, which is really nice; not sugarcoating reality, but at the same time not being an utter pessimist about life either.

i also really enjoyed the writing style. to begin with there were Gothic overtones, which added to the overall suspense and the sinister vibe, and there was an undercurrent of black humour running throughout which worked really well.

the premise was very original and entertaining. aside from the fact that the narrator is a cat, which is novel in itself, the mystery was intricate and complexly woven, with so many possibilities as to who the murderer was and even what their motives were. i tried to guess, but got everything terribly wrong. (not sure this is saying much though, as i'm notoriously bad at guessing the culprit in mysteries.)

this truly was a superb novel, and i'd recommend it if you can handle dark and gory subject matter. although i think people should be aware that the author is... highly unpleasant, and therefore if you wanted to read it without supporting him you could get it used or something ;) i also mention it because i know some people feel uncomfortable reading books by authors like that, although bear in mind none of his far-right-wing views are reflected in the novel (the reverse is true, as mentioned, which is very strange).

[Kwoomac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about cats. Who have a murderer among them. Told from the perspective of a cat. You may want to stop here. This may not be the book for you. This is a mystery seen through the eyes of out hero Francis. Francis is new to the neighborhood and is shocked to learn that many of his feline "family" are being murdered. It is clear the murderer is another cat. The preferred method of killing is a cat-bite to the neck. Francis, believing himself to be of greater-than-average intelligence, takes it upon himself to solve the mystery. He is joined in his task by a few other cats he calls friend. In attempting to solve the crimes, Francis is thrown into a world he didn't know existed. He learns of a bizarre cult where the local cats worship a long-dead cat named Claudandus. He finds out about a lab in the neighborhood where the humans performed heinous experiments on cats. He even comes across a new breed of cats. Francis and his friends connect the dots as they search for answers. More than once, Francis finds himself in dangerous situations. The humans in the book play only a very peripheral role as the "can openers". Lots of interesting cat facts and lore in the story.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phew. What can I say? Buying the English translated book off of eBay I didn't know what to expect. This is my second time reading through it, and was at first appalled at the language and gore that I was not use to being associated with the cat genre. But as I read on the mood set was amazing. Dark, depressing, and truly insane. Footnotes let you know that Akif must have done a bit of cat research before writing. This book just never ceases to amaze me.

[Janelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure I've ever read a book where I felt such a divide between love of the story and inability to stomach the writing.
I'll say this: this may be blasphemy to some, but there are cases where the movie is better than the book. And this is one of those cases, because, at least in this person's opinion, the story may be great, but the writing is absolutely insufferable, and gets increasingly so over the course of the book.
The author appears to believe in the stance that brooding and negativity are interesting and clever- and so, there is a lot of it. A LOT of it.
At first, I wondered if it was supposed to be the narrator simply having a feline voice- after all, his arrogance most likely was at least partially supposed to be due to him being a cat- but increasingly it dawned on me that we were supposed to be impressed by the pages upon pages of repetitive moaning about how life is a bleak abyss, there is no goodness in mankind, we are all spiraling into the void into the cold clutches of death. (Indeed, the book opens on such a note- but, again, I had given it the benefit of the doubt and taken it as him being a pretentious feline.)
This brooding wasn't just annoying- it was REPETITIVE. The exact same points were moaned over for pages upon pages all throughout the book, with only slight changes in wording. It felt like he was trying to pad his word count.
I can pinpoint the exact point I would have put the book down if I wasn't already so far into it; Francis, the protagonist, walks into another cat's house, and sees him lying on a cushion.
For some reason, this prompts a page-long moaning about how maybe that cat is comfortable in his home, but in truth human beings are horrible horrible horrible to animals, and cause animals to "become homosexual," mutilate themselves, rape or be raped- on and on and on. -Because he walked into a house and saw a cat lying on a cushion.-
Additionally, yeah, this was written in 1989, but I'm still going to say that this book was strangely intent on throwing offensive remarks about various minorities in out of the blue, just in the cat's many pretentious musings. But worst of all was its treatment of disabilities; constant paragraphs upon paragraphs moaning about poor, hideous invalids, pathetic, ruined cripples living half-lives- a blind cat is literally described as having "no life" because she was blind. All irrational and evil behavior is "schizophrenic." It's so obnoxious.
Good points:
- Story is a great idea
- The last couple of pages were okay
- Made a great movie
- I like Bluebeard
So... that's my take. I gave it a star because the concept and story are very good if you separate them entirely from how it's written out.

[Francesca kikkatnt 'Free Palestine, Stop Genocide' · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misteri, furti, delitti, in storie piene di imprevisti e di emozioni, scritte dagli autori più famosi , per i ragazzi che hanno superato i 12 anni.

Queste le prime righe della quarta di copertina di una delle collane per ragazzi più famose degli anni '90: i gialli junior.
Sebbene ne avessi già letti molti da piccola, questo mi mancava. E sono riuscita ad acquistarlo (a non pochi soldi a dire il vero) qualche mese fa tramite un sito di compravendita on-line.
Che dire.. Se non avesse avuto la famosa copertina gialla , non avrei mai pensato ad una storia per ragazzi.
Non c'è storia, libri così superano di gran lunga molti YA scritti in questi ultimi anni, con temi così profondi che, forse, un ragazzino non riuscirebbe a capire appieno..
Con questo libro sono tornata indietro di quasi 30 anni, per non parlare delle ambientazioni prettamente "ottantose" con PC e programmi ormai talmente obsoleti (Pascal, Fortran) da strapparmi un sorriso ogni volta che ne leggevo le grandi potenzialità descritte dall'autore.

[Jersy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich finde das spannend, dass ein Buch, das nicht nur aus der Sicht eines Katers geschrieben ist, sondern auch fast schon prophetische Träume und an Science Fiction erinnernde Handlungsbestandteile enthält, mal so ein Mainstream-Erfolg war wie Felidae. Nicht zu Unrecht, möchte ich sagen, denn bis auf die bereits erwähnten Albträume, die für mich weniger gut funktionierten, fand ich diesen Roman großartig. Das fängt schon beim Schreibstil an: Francis Erzählstimme wirkt stilsicher, leicht gehoben und, wie bei einer Katze zu erwarten, etwas arrogant. Die Charaktere sind greifbar und die wichtigsten schließt man schnell ins Herz. Die Handlung ist abwechslungs- und wendungsreich, aber niemals ziellos oder nicht nachvollziehbar. Für mich ein wirklich besonderes Leseerlebnis.

[Kris Sellgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This noir detective novel is a thinking cat’s mystery. A serial killer is loose in the suburb that Francis has just moved into, along with his human companion. Francis searches for the killer with a mix of logic, intuition, and luck. The brilliant sleuth, murderer, and victims are all cats. The cats are very cat-like. Francis’s twisty path leads him to thugs, a bizarre religious cult, a sexy seductress, and mad scientists. The characters are vividly sketched. The writing is intelligent. I highly recommend this.

[Steffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im Rückblick schon eine interessante Lektüre, zum einen wegen der Katzen-Perspektive, zum anderen weil die Hauptfigur nicht gerade sympathisch ist.
Aus heutiger Sicht: Bei allem, was man über den Autor inzwischen weiß, hätte das Buch sicher nicht mehr den Weg in meinem Regal gefunden.

[Mothlight · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange one. I watched the animated movie several years ago (which was dubbed, very terribly, in English), and the thing was absolutely bonkers. I quickly learned that it was a German book and, to my surprise, part of a series. I've wanted to find an English copy for ages and never got around to it until recently, wherein my library managed to track down the novel. Two others are apparently translated into English, but this is the only one I could get my hands on easily enough.

I wondered if it would be as crude and gory as the movie. Presumably, the dialogue would be a bit better, but maybe not. My curiosity was higher than my bar.

Well, it is certainly as crude and gory as the movie, and yes the dialogue is better--with a caveat: the cats use slurs sometimes. Francis' movie counterpart is more likeable, I suppose because we are not subjected to his meandering and constant internal bitching that is obviously a joke on the whole "pretentious cat" stereotype, but the little bastard really is insufferable for large sections of the book. These sections, in my opinion, should have ended up on the cutting table. They made this rather short story feel longer than it needed to.

That said, the story is nuts. There are cat murders and murderers. There are cat computer programmers. There are cats who read biology textbooks and have opinions on modern home renovation techniques. Some of the cats are also nazis, which other cats have problems with--having learned the author's particular bigotries (which seem to be literally all of them), I found this pretty funny. Did he read what he wrote? Does he know these cats would challenge him in hand to hand combat and kick his ass? Then again, certain statements in the book (largely about disabilities, but he was unable to resist a homosexuality comment too) make a terrible amount of sense when you know who wrote them and what he thinks about these topics in reality.

Anyway, the journal entries section and the final confrontation are really quite good. Francis' sadness is portrayed elegantly.

However, if you don't have any baseline for the Felidae book or movie, know that "oh it's really dark" has a different meaning here than when people apply it to, IDK, Watership Down. There's intense and upsetting animal torture through laboratory experiments and very gruesome slaughter via a serial cat killer, so know what you're getting into. I would largely consider this a horror novel.

[Olesja · Rating 5 out of 5]

S obzirom da ova knjiga i nije previše poznata široj javnosti, a riječ je o kvalitetnom i zanimljivom štivu, dopustite da vam predstavim Felidae.
Ova knjiga zadire u svijet mačaka u kojem pronalazimo dva iznimno inteligentna protagonista: Francisca i Pascala. Radnja ovoga romana je protkana elemantima krimića i detektivskim, postupnim putem dolaženja do spoznaje i otkrivanja zločina. Zločini o kojima je riječ su niz krvoločnih ubojstava. Inteligentni detektiv Francisc, postupno rješava misteriju zločina. A razriješenje zločina i sama poruka romana je ono po čemu ovaj roman od mene zaslužuje pet zvjezdica. Da ne otkrivam previše, spomenut ću samo da se u romanu javlja ideja stvaranja nadrase mačaka, čistokrvne rase Felidae koja će vladati svijetom, a samim time i čovjekom. Kako bi se to ostvarilo, potrebno je spriječiti sva moguća buduća pokoljena koja bi bila mješovita, a način kako bi se to ostvarilo je krvoločnim ubojstvima. Sve to skupa, čitatelja podsjeti na malog čovječuljka s čudnim brčićima i kosom zalizanom na pogrešnu stranu koji je glavni i odgovoran za nestanak 2,5% ljudi sa zemaljske kugle tijekom 2.svj rata. A to nas opet može asocirati na iskrivljeno tumačenje Nietzschova nauka o Nadčovjeku ili Übermensc.
Druga važna sadržajna tematika ove knjige je bioetika. Važan događaj opisan u knjizi je eksperimentiranje nad životinjama i njihovo mučenje. Stoga, pretpostvavljam da je ovo roman koji bi se posebno svidio svim braniteljima prava životinja. No, bez obzira zalagali se vi više za prava čovjeka ili prava životinja, knjiga svakako otvara jednu tabu, bioetičku temu i pitanje: gdje su granice ljudskog eksperimentiranja?
A ono što nam Francisco poručuje na kraju je poruka današnjem čovjeku koju nikako ne bi smjeli zaboraviti: ljudi napose nikad nebi smjeli zaboraviti da su potekli od životinja, pa da se i u njima krije još tračak nevinosti. Bili dobri ili zli, svi smo mi u krajnjoj liniji životinje pa treba da budemo kolegijalni i da se volimo.
‘I nemojte prestati vjerovati u svijet u kojem će životinje i ljudi živjeti u harmoniji.’
Ako sam vas imalo zainteresirala s prethodno rečenim, a neda vam se čitat knjiga, onda preporučam pogledati amimirani film redatelja Michael Schaack.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever wonder what your cat thinks of you? You really don't want to know. I thought this would be a cozy-type mystery, but it was way too violent and graphic to claim that category. These cats are cynical, tyrannical and often bitter....but the mystery was interesting to the last.

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Irghs. Not my cup of tea

[Nozdereli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitaba ve yazarın üslubuna bayıldım. Yazar, insanların kurduğu toplumdan ve hırslarından etkilenerek, yaptığı müthiş gözlemleri kedigillere çok güzel yansıtmış. Ayrıca verdiği evrimsel ve biyolojik bilgiler de çok güzeldi. Ara ara değindiği bazı gizli öznelerle kitabın sonunda da tatmin olduğunuz harika bir bitiş ile romanı sonlandırmış. Bence gizem unsurunu da sonlara kadar korumayı başarmış ve ortaya harika bilimsel izlenimlerle süslü müthiş bir polisiye çıkmış. İşin içinde kediler, evrim ve cinayet varsa ben okurum… :)

[Kai Schreiber · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, bis zum Ende durchgehalten. Es wird in der zweiten Hälfte etwas besser, die Stilblüten- und Bullshitdichte bleibt aber hoch. Der Weltenbau ist unausgegoren, sowohl was die Fähigkeiten der Katzen angeht - Datenbankmangement und Zuchtprogramme, soso - als auch was ihre Psyche betrifft. Ich bin angenehm überrascht, im Anhang Bezug auf Desmond Morris zu finden, es wäre aber schön gewesen, wenn das feline Verhalten auch während der Geschichte nicht nur oberflächlich angeklebtes Katzenfell auf einem wesentlich ganz normalen Krimi gewesen wäre.

Aber je nun. Jetzt kenn ich das.

[Bloodorange]

I remember I loved this, must reread.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book after watching the (rather infamous) animated adaptation, which I have to say I prefer—and it’s rare for me to prefer a movie to its original book.

This is just so awfully, terribly written. Ham-fisted and amateurish.

It’s like he’s very self-consciously adding “I AM A WRITER, LOOK AT ME WRITE” elements. Long, ridiculous analogies and purple-prosed similes. Equally purple, cliche descriptions of setting and character. Long emphatic tirades on human nature with no basis whatsoever in believable dialogue.

There are also too many moments in which one character finds himself expositioning to another. In CSI, it is ludicrous that a lab tech needs to explain to another lab tech how he used his lab technology. In Felidae, it is twice as ludicrous that a cat needs to explain to another cat how he used his feline anatomy.

Praise where deserved:

Certain characters and scenes are, of course, much more fleshed out than a movie allows, the professor and his deterioration in particular.

When the author drops his self-conscious writing “act” and actually just writes, it’s not bad. The dream sequences are even more nightmarish in print than on screen.

It’s just a pity that kind of clear, captivating storytelling is found in only a few scenes.

[Janice Bridger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disturbing , this book seems to be an allegory, using cats as a condemnation of eugenics, racism and violence. Humans are actually described as tin openers which is quite amusing and only 3 or 4 feature. Instead cats use computers, read, speak languages, comment on films and kill each other while occasionally doing a few cat things. That’s mainly why I found it so weird - strange how I was ok about a cat being a detective!! I’m glad I read it but I will not be reading any more as I have since found out about the author’s more recent views. He has written several anti feminism, homophobic and anti immigration books and essays. He has been described as a Nazi and doesn’t care- perhaps he now identifies with a different character in his novel than Francis the detective.

[Mikklus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Als ich Circa 10 Jahre alt war, gab mir meine Mutter ein Buch in die Hand (da ich immer mehr lesen wollte, aber der Vorrat an Kinder und Jugendbücher uns ausging). Also fing ich an Felidae zulesen und ich tauchte wohl, in meinen Augen, in die Beste Kriminalgeschichte ein die ich davor und auch danach gelesen habe. Akif Pirinçci schaffte es ein Buch über Sprechende Katzen zuschreiben ohne das es Cringe wird (ich schaue auf dich Warrior Cats). Die beschriebenen Szenen sind Brutal, Sexualisiert und aufjedenfall nicht Kinderfreundlich (meine Mutter hielt anscheinend nicht soviel von Pädagogischen Methoden). Allem im allem, ist dieses Buch einfach eine sehr Runde und schöne Geschichte, die jeder Kriminalfan gelesen haben muss... Katzenfans auch

[Lucrezia Monti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scritto bene è scritto bene, le descrizioni degli efferati crimini sono truculente e vivide quanto immagino debbano esserlo per gli amanti del genere. Tra i quali io non figuro. Ma cosa non si fa pur di accaparrarsi qualche punticino in più per i Mondiali di Lettura... :D
Tre stelle perché, appunto, pur non essendo del genere che prediligo, il romanzo è ben scritto e ben sviluppato, ed ho trovato originale l'idea del gatto-investigatore (sebbene abbia saputo che in Italia lo stesso abbia fatto l'etologo Giorgio Celli, che scrisse diversi libri con un gatto nelle vesti... pardon, pelliccia, di detective).

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago (I remember picking it up at a book market for next to nothing!) and its one that always sticks in my mind. It took me a while to read it as I found it hard going till about as third of the way through. Then it all seemed to come into place.

It is not the usual genre I read and I would say it is more of a thriller/crime. The characters are great and because of my love of cats I found the book very warming. It took me 4 years to find the sequal.

I'd say give it a go if its your genre and take your time with it as it can be hard going :)

[EroticaAfterDark (Lilith) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Francis is new in town, cocky, smart and sharp-tongued and he's a cat.
Stumbling upon a gore-ish murder in his neighborhood, he cannot stop himself from investigating a crime and unveiling an ingenious, but murderous nazi-like conspiracy - between cats.

It's been some time since I've read this book, but I still remember many details of it. This book was just as the main character, funny and smart, somewhat shocking and definitely surprising.

Felidae is a unique, awesome read. If you don't mind a little gore, a little sex and a lot of thrill AND love cats, this is a must read.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felidae is an insane but captivating murder mystery starting from page one. Although I figured out who the murderer was about 3/5s of the way through, I did not even guess at the murderer's actual motivation until it was revealed. An absolutely stunning novel that isn't at all justified by saying it's a "murder mystery about cats." Their feline-ness is absolutely central to the mystery and to all of the characters, but at the same time, the themes are all very human.

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diesen Bestseller mochte ich wirklich recht gern. Da ich Katzen gern habe, und die Francis sich auch wirklich wie ein Katze verhielt, sprich nicht nur ein verkleideter Mensch war, und wirklich kurzweilig geschrieben war. Der Krimiplot war auch clever geknüpft. 3,5.

[Francesca]

La società dei gatti assassini – Akif Pirinçci

Francis è costretto al trasferimento, in quella che lui stesso denominerà Villa Frankenstein, dal suo ingenuo, grasso, solitario e anche un po’ sfigato umano, Gustav. Francis è un gatto ed è troppo pigro per ribellarsi alla scelta fatta dal suo uomo. E, poi, a che scopo? Meglio farsi andare bene la decisione di Gustav e avere ragione di lui su cose più concrete! Comunque, Francis non è affatto contento di subire il trasloco, anzi. E lo sarà ancora meno quando saprà che, nel suo nuovo quartiere, si stanno consumando una serie di orrendi delitti, vere e proprie esecuzioni, a scapito di suoi simili, eseguiti, cosa per Francis assai più sconvolgente degli omicidi stessi, pure da un suo simile, un misterioso gatto-assassino. Nonostante la paura faccia novanta e il raccapriccio per le terribili morti, la curiosità, una forma di solidarietà felina e, soprattutto, la necessità di stare lontano dall’appartamento, durante i lavori di ristrutturazione fatti dall’imbranato Gustav e dal valente Archibald, ovvero Archie, amico-conoscente di Gustav e dei di lui problemi risolutore, spingono Francis ad indagare sulle atroci morti, alla ricerca di assassino e verità. Questo lo porterà a inoltrarsi in vicende ed eventi oscuri e lontani, i cui effetti, tuttavia, ancora influenzano la vita del nuovo quartiere e degli abitanti felini e non, e a scoprire cose che, forse, avrebbe preferito ignorare.

Ma non si finisce mai di imparare, in un mondo dove le persone vivono tra tante di quelle bugie, che la verità stessa finisce per apparire come l’unica menzogna. Pag. 56

Francis stesso ci introduce il dramma del suo trasferimento e ci spiega il rapporto con il suo pasticcione umano. L’inizio l’ho trovato divertente; la narrazione, lo stile, la voce di Francis, tragica da essere comica, mi hanno coinvolto e trascinata nel bel mezzo di questa storia, presa dalla curiosità e da grande aspettativa per lo sviluppo successivo.

I canti notturni degli dèi mi erano sconosciuti come il vento caldo della savana. Pag. 152

Ma, a partire da un certo punto in poi, tutto si appesantisce, Francis pare perdere verve, così concentrato a ripeterci e ripetersi quanto i suoi ragionamenti siano acuti e logici; la storia viene farcita da tanti elementi: guerre dialettiche tra felini supersapienti, sfide tra logica logica e semplice e logica logica ma complicata, Frankenstein e follia, piante carnivore, Mendel, genetica, ratti cospiratori e conquistatori del mondo futuro, religioni, felini Profeti, una aggiunta di ripieno fino allo scontro finale, che, a mio avviso, fa sì che la farcitura finisca per colare e impiastricciare invece di guarnire. Non lo so, mi è sembrato troppo. La storia, in alcuni punti, mi ha proprio annoiata.

La fine di una storia è sempre triste, sia perché ci si ritrova poi nella noiosa realtà di tutti i giorni, sia perché tutte le storie vere finiscono male. Il lieto fine è solo un’illusione, e la conclusione di ogni storia vera è la morte. Pag. 218

Infine, la fine, la non-morale morale, così è parsa a me, ha ulteriormente appesantito una lettura che mi stava già abbottando. Insomma, una parte di me vorrebbe consigliare questo libro, ma l’altra mi dice de lascia’ perde’. Perciò concluderò in modo inconcludente: che sia questo libro a trovare chi deve, ma, pur non ostacolandolo, di certo non contribuirò io a eventuali incontri.

Comunque e come sempre, questa è solo la mia opinione e vale per quel che è.

[Hellena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Az értékelés olvasható a blogomon:
https://thedeathgoddess.blogspot.com/...

Ez a második olyan könyvem idén, amely egy macska szemszögéből íródott. E kettő után megfogalmazódott bennem, hogy nekem ez tetszik. Furcsa, ugyanakkor vicces is macskaszemmel nézni a világot, egy kicsit az ő fejükkel gondolkodni. Félix hasonlóképpen szemléli a környezetét és az embereket, mint Nana, Az utazó macska krónikájának főhőse. Talán emiatt kedveltem meg őt is szinte rögtön.

Macskakrimi. Ezen a meghatározáson mostanáig nem sikerült túllépnem. Nem szokványos, de helytálló: ez tényleg egy krimi, amelynek minden szereplője macska. A gyilkos, az áldozatok, és a „nyomozók” is. Az emberek csak másodlagosan kerülnek a képbe. Ez kicsit furcsa is volt; olvasás közben újra meg újra emlékeztetni kellett magamat, hogy nem emberekről, hanem macskákról olvasok, és a leírtakat macskákkal kellene elképzelnem.

Maga a történet nem kifejezetten bonyolult – elsőre. Adott egy cica, aki újonnan költözik gazdájával a negyedbe, majd hamarosan holttesteket fedez fel. Ezután újdonsült barátaival együtt elkezd nyomozni a gyilkos és annak indítéka után. Ám ahogy egyre közelebb kerül a megoldáshoz, úgy bonyolódik a háttértörténet, és úgy válik egyre kacifántosabbá a jelen is. Attól eltekintve, hogy ki a csodának jut eszébe ilyen lehetetlen dolgot megírni, elég jól felépített sztoriról van szó. A gyilkost valahol az utolsó negyed tájékán kitaláltam, az indítékot viszont nem, pedig tulajdonképpen teljesen logikus.

Úgy gondolom, ez a könyv valamilyen szinten az ember és állat kapcsolatát is hivatott bemutatni, és egyfajta kigúnyolása is az emberi társadalomnak. Bár ha belegondolunk, macskaszemszögből lehet, hogy tényleg csak „konzervnyitogatók” vagyunk.

Alapvetően élveztem az olvasását, az állatkísérletes jelenetet kivéve. Tudományos képzettségemből kifolyólag tisztában vagyok vele, hogy ezekre jelenleg szükség van, mert nincs rájuk alternatíva, és azt is tudom, hogy lehet ezt úgy csinálni, hogy az állat a lehető legkevesebbet szenvedjen. Sajnos a könyv pontosan az ellenkező irányt írja le. Többet nem is szeretnék mondani róla, nehéz szívvel olvastam végig ezeket az oldalakat.

Ha viszont ettől a résztől eltekintek, akkor is hiányzik belőle valami, ami miatt nem 5 csillag, de nem tudom megfogalmazni, hogy mi ez a tényező. Talán az, hogy a kelleténél kevésbé tartotta fent az érdeklődésemet, talán még valami. Cicásoknak mindenesetre egy olvasást szerintem megér.

[Svaetulla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo libro Mondadori lo ha pubblicato come "libro per ragazzi dai 12 anni in su", c'è un profondo errore in questa scelta editoriale, forse fatta perchè il protagonista è un gatto. Non troverete animali carini, ma una storia cupa con elementi splatter, gore e elementi legati al sesso. Un libro sfaccettato come i migliori noir dove il protagonista sta a caccia di un assassino. Tematiche importanti, bene e male, etica e scienza, rese in linguaggio semplice e sempre coerente attraverso una lente decisamente originale. Un piccolo capolavoro, anche se, decisamente non per dodicenni. Purtroppo il libro è fuori catalogo e sono riuscita a leggerlo solo tramite la biblioteca, ma lo consiglio davvero a tutti perchè ha tutte le carte in regola per venire ricordato.

[nuggi. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder Mystery… aber mit Katzen! Das Buch entpuppte sich als richtiges Highlight und wäre in meinen Augen ein sehr guter Klassiker über Tierfabeln.
Die Katzen werden richtig gut in Szene gesetzt. Der Autor kannte sich mit den Tieren definitiv aus. Am meisten mochte ich es wie die Katzen ihre Halter „akzeptierten“ aber sich dennoch überlegen fühlten und sich auch so gaben.
Der Thriller Aspekt war in meinen Augen auch sehr gut gegeben und einige Szenen hatten mich teils wirklich schockiert.

Einzige Kritikpunkte sind die nicht gut gealterten Annahmen über Übergewicht, Homosexualität und die Darstellung von Frauen bzw. in diesem Fall weibliche Katzen. Aber der Roman ist halt von 1990. Rückblickend bin ich sehr stolz darauf wie sich diese Thematiken entwickelt haben.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Провокативна, дръзка, увлекателна и различна – “Котки” е книга, която, убеден съм, ще запомня. Шедьовър едновременно на ужаса и на литературата с животни. Подробно ревю може да прочетете на линка:
https://citadelata.com/%d0%ba%d0%be%d...

[Cleo Rainey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read all year ! A thousand- no, a million stars for Felidae !

[Rosinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seltsam - 3.7⭐️