Monday, March 11, 2013

Book Review: "Love Saves the Day" by Gwen Cooper

I had no doubt when I sat down to read Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper that I was going to love this book. What I wasn't prepared for was just HOW MUCH I would love it, and how much I would FEEL while reading it.

It had been a while since I had read and reviewed another book by Gwen, Homer's Odyssey, and I had forgotten just how much I love Gwen's writing style, her development of characters is superb. She expertly crafts and describes their personalities and idiosyncrasies  in a way that we feel as if we KNOW them. Gwen's  ability to tug at our hearts,  and her ability to take a story plot and weave an intricate fabric of twists and turns, incredible highs and devastating lows are a talent that is unique.

In both Homer's Odyssey and in Love Saves the Day, it is obvious how much Gwen knows and loves her beloved New York.  The title, Love Saves the Day, "was the name of an iconic East Village store (where Madonna trades her pyramid jacket for a pair of rhinestone boots in Desperately Seeking Susan). Gwen says that "the phrase initially captured me as being both iconic of a certain era in New York 's downtown scene and also a great title for a book about the transformative nature of different kinds of love and relationships."


From the Publisher: Poignant, insightful, and funny, Love Saves the Day is a story of hope, healing, and how the love of an animal can make all of us better humans. It's the story of a mother and daughter divided by the turmoil of bohemian New York, and the opinionated, irrepressible feline who will become the bridge between them. It's a novel for anyone who's ever lost a loved one, wondered what their cat was REALLY thinking, or fallen asleep with a purring feline nestled in their arms.



Prudence, who is based on Cooper's own cat Scarlett (who crossed the Bridge a year ago) bore a striking resemblance both physically and in her behavior,  to my Bobo who passed seven years ago. From Gwen: "Scarlett was very aloof and very dignified but also capable of deep affection for the small handful of humans she allowed herself to get close to." Gwen wanted the feline narrator to "have a certain emotional distance from the humans she was observing, so that she wasn't always seeing them through a cloudy haze of adoration. But I also wanted her to be capable of that deep love those of us who love animals experience with the animals we bond with. Scarlett fit that bill perfectly." The above described my Bobo to a tee as well.
My "Bobo" who bore
a striking resemblance to "Prudence!"


Gwen Cooper also has to have an immense passion for the Beatles, as I  do. Their famous song "Dear Prudence" is quoted when Sarah finds Prudence as a kitten, hiding, and Sarah encourages Prudence to come to her by saying: " Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?"  The Beatle's lyrics telling Prudence to "open up your eyes", "greet the brand new day", "the sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you" are not a coincidence, it was  a brilliant connection on the part of Gwen. Dear Prudence is saying that all will be fine, to look around, observe the beauty that surrounds you, just as the feline "Prudence" does in Love Saves the Day. The spirit of the song Dear Prudence, and the meaning of the  lyrics of the Beatles classic, are the soul of  Love Saves the Day. Not only did the feline "Prudence" learn to see life without Sarah in a "brand new way" but through her love and wisdom she enabled those around her to do the same.  In my opinion, only a true Beatles fan would appreciate and make this connection.


There were so many thoughts that went through my mind while reading Love Saves the Day, that taken individually, each thought could be shaped to form an endless number of reviews. Love Saves the Day is a book of substance, full of emotion, humor, history,  love... and... yes, sadness. You  will want to dive deep within it's pages and kiss the precious white paws of the sagacious Prudence.  This book has THAT much to offer.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gwen Cooper is the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Homer's Odyssey and the novel Diary of a South Beach Party Girl. She is active with numerous animal welfare organizations and is a frequent speaker at shelter fundraisers across the U.S. Gwen lives in Manhattan with her husband, Laurence. She also lives with her three perfect cats-Homer, Clayton and Fanny-who aren't impressed with any of it.

ISBN: 978-0-345-52694-6

To purchase through Amazon click here
To purchase through Barnes & Noble click here

Visit Gwen at www.gwencooper.com
Or on Facebook click here







54 comments:

  1. We love how Cody poses with the book! Excellent model! Purrs!

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  2. My human and I LOVED this book! She was just raving about it to the human who owns all the Katnip Lounge kitties on Saturday.

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  3. Sounds like another great book by Gwen! Mommy's waiting for the book to hit our local stores. :) Thank you for the review!

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  4. Cody,
    When you're done, please pass the book to me. purrr....Meow!

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  5. My mom love Gwen Cooper's book !!!
    and she is dying for reading " Love Saves the Day "
    Thanks for your lovely reviews : )
    and Many hugs to your mom,Cody !
    lots of love
    xoxo

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  6. Great review and it sounds like a really good read. Have a marvelous Monday.
    Best wishes Molly

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    1. thank you! It is MARVELOUS! You have a "marvelous Monday" too!

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  7. I loved Homer's Odyssey and have been meaning to get to this one as well. Cute picture Caren.

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  8. Wonderful review, Caren. I loved this book so much. I rarely read books more than once, but this one will be read again and again.

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    1. thank you Ingrid, I would have to agree about reading it "again and again" I read your review this morning...you KNOW i don't read the reviews of others until AFTER the fact :) and yours was SUPERB!

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  9. Awwwww!!! Prudence sounds like a great cat training her new humans to be wise and wonderful as only kitties are capable of doing! Yay! Thanks for the review and info to Gwen Cooper's latest fab book! Take care
    x

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  10. I have read this book and it was terrific. It is such an insight into what a poor cat thinks when they lose their human. It is a wonderful book getting into everyone's thoughts. I truly enjoyed it and this is a most wonderful review of it.

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  11. I won a copy of that book a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still awaiting its arrival in the mail. I hope it gets here soon because it sounds so good and I've really been looking forward to reading it!

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  12. Great review. It sounds like a good read!

    Oink oink,
    Katie and Coccolino the mini pig

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  13. My mum can't wait to read this book. She read Homer's Odyssey and loved it so much. She loves The Beatles too!

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  14. Oh! That looks like a good book. Anyway, awhile ago, I did receive my prize "Cat Laughs" book by Gary Patterson. Thank you so much. I didn't expect it to be autographed by him. That was nice.

    I also want to give you an update on my cat Snuggles, who I had entered in the contest. He has had an ear infection his whole life but it became very nasty 6 months ago. I did bring him to the vet right away and had all the tests done. There was no sign of cancer then and was to give him medicine to treat his ear. Well his ear still flared up every few weeks and last week, he came down with a fever. He wasn't himself and was sleeping too much. I gave him one day to see if he would get better but he didn't so then I rushed him to the vet. The infection caused the fever and with antibiotic, he's over it and now he is back to himself but there is still bad news. The vet was nice enough to clean up his ear and unfortunately found a tumour. It's size is somewhat big but not humongous so I just have to hope that it was caught early enough. He is going to have a CT scan this week and if the tumour isn't in the ear canal then he will have surgery to remove it along with his ear. I'm hoping for the best. He is just a month and a half from turning 15 and I don't want to lose my little boy so soon. Plus, my family just lost another cat last month. His name was Comet and he was 11, soon to be 12. He had a tumour around his heart and lungs but nothing could be done for him. I just hope it isn't too late for Snuggles.

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  15. A great book read to us by our Dad. I had better let him discuss this, take it away Pops:

    Thanks Timmy. As many I had been waiting for Gwen Coopers next book as her style and ability is to admire. “Love Saves the Day” was marvelous. A wonderful tale of transformation and forgiveness that captures our furred friend’s motivations wonderfully while looking at how love can be transformative of life. I just wish it had another 50 pages!

    OK Timmy, back to you.

    Thanks fur reading this one to us!

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  16. Mel I am very sorry to hear this news. Sending you prayers and purrs that all will go well. ((((hugs))))

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  17. Oh! A Uplifting Book! We needs that right now. Wes gots our Gary Patterson Book! Me is furry excited and Mommy and me looked at it together. We LOVES it! Thanks yous!
    Kisses
    Nellie

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  18. I hope Snuggles gets through the surgey,this is a great review Caren I'll have to ready someday,xx Rachel

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  19. Love Gwen and loved your review. Tweeted. As you know we did and Author Q & A and giveaway for this fab book.

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    1. thanks so much Layla! I am deeply flattered! Yep! I just read yours...you also know my "rule" about not reading other people's reviews until I have reviewed the book. Yours was superb as always!

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  20. It sounds like a lovely book. Just one thing though. I hope you realise that I now have Dear Prudence stuck in my brain and can't stop singing to myself!

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    1. lol!! OMG I was the same! I love the song but had to sit and listen to it a number of times and read the lyrics to be sure I was on track...sooooooo...last night I couldn't stop singing it :)

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  21. That was a great review and we look forward to having it read to us!

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    1. thank you so much Brian! I am sure your Dad will read it to you!

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  22. This sounds like such a great and uplifting book. It was already on our books to read list. It just moved up in the queue, thanks to your helpful and great review. :)

    Hugs!

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    1. Meowmeowmans it most definitely is! I THANK YOU for your kind words! Thank you!

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  23. We love Gwen's writing style too.
    We know we will enjoy reading this book as well.
    Great review.

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  24. Sounds like a good one. Great review
    Benny & Lily

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  25. You didn't need to sell the book to me, but now I want to read it even more!! :) Terrific review, Caren x

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  26. Now that sounds sweet!

    Thanks for your kind comments about Au's passing; we appreciate it.

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  27. What a wonderful review of what I can tell is an AMAZING book. It's already been top on my list! I also adore the cool promo video (of course!) ...just adorable.
    xo, Glogirly

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  28. I bought this book on my Kindle when it first came out & I loved it!

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  29. Great review... and a great book. Once arrived in the second half, every time I opened the book I just needed one page before I started crying again. It works that well.

    By the way, Nipomo is in California ;-)

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    1. Thank you and you are sooo right! Also...thanks about "Nipomo" (wink)...I seriously never knew, remind me if/when I ask again :)

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  30. This is funny you mention this mom almost picked this book up. (I don't know why she dind't she's so meowy silly. She's definitely going to get it now though with this great review. But I had to thank you for your great comments on my blog though. I appreciate it.

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    1. Hi Smokey's "Mom!" So glad you stopped by. OMC you MUST pick up this book! I promise you, you will LOVE IT. Thank YOU for your kind words. It is my pleasure to visit and comment on your blog! Hope you will be part of the "family" here too!
      xoxoxo

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  31. Mommy cried her way through this - it was, of course, outstanding!!

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  32. What a wonderful book review..... You really went into lots of detail that makes us want to read the book. Thanks.

    Have a great day.

    hugs, Bugsy and Knuckles

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    1. Hi HH, Bugsy and Knuckles!!!! That means A LOT! thank you! Thank you for taking the time to read it, I know this one was rather long. You have a great day too! ((((hugs))))

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    1. thank you Ann! Hope you enjoyed your visit and that you will return frequently. Have a great day!

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  34. What a wonderful review. I can already feel the book tugging at my heartstrings and embedding itself into the very core of my cat loving being. Prudence is my Zoey... xoxoxo

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