Cat and Bird: A Memoir [Paperback]

A sweet, touching memoir about animals, loss, and finding a home in the world by the author ofShizukos DaughterandYarn(Kirkus Reviews).

Cat and Bird, a memoir in animals, is anchored around Kyoko Moris relationship with the six house cats who defined the major eras of her life as a writer: Dorian, Oscar, Ernest, Algernon, Miles, and Jackson. As she details the rhythms and routines of their days together, she weaves a narrative tapestry out of her past: the deep family tragedy and resilience that marked her childhood in Japan, her move to the American Midwest as a young adult, her experiences as a bird rehabilitator and cat trainer, her marriage and divorce, and the joys and profound heartbreaks that come with pet ownership. Full of razor-sharp observations and generous prose,Cat and Birdwhirls into a moving meditation about grief, writing, the imagination, the solitary life, and the wonders of companionship with creatures both domestic and wild.

Kyoko Moriis the author of three nonfiction books (The Dream of Water;Polite Lies;Yarn) and four novels (Shizukos Daughter;One Bird;Stone Field,True Arrow;Barn Cat). Her essays and stories have appeared inThe Best American Essays,Harvard Review, theAmerican Scholar,Colorado Review,Conjunctions, and other venues. She teaches nonfiction writing in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at George Mason University and the Low-Residency MFA Program at Lesley University. She lives in Washington, DC, with her cats, Miles and Jackson.

As she moves among stories of her cats, jobs, and elements of her past, Mori explores how, in the company of only animals and oneself, one can come to understand many different things that may elude comprehension in larger social settings.?A muted memoir thats both meandering and meditative.?Kirkus Reviews

lÎ