The World According to Bob: The Further Adventures of One Man and His Streetwise Cat

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Synopsis

Author and musician James Bowen and his cat, Bob, became worldwide celebrities with the success of James's first book, A Street Cat Named Bob, which chronicled his struggles with addition and homelessness and how Bob saved his life and put him back on a more positive path. Now the dynamic duo is back with a new set of tales about their lives together. James shows how Bob has been a steadying force in his life, seeing him through many times of hardship, illness, and sadness. Along the way, James may have taught Bob little tricks to entertain their many fans, but Bob's intelligence and bravery teaches James many life lessons about friendship, loyalty, and trust.

Review

The World According to Bob continues the story of Street Cat Bob and author James Bowen, the man Bob chose to be his human. In the first book, A Street Cat Named Bob, we learned how James and Bob met and how Bob helped James immensely in his recovery from drug addiction and getting back on his feet after being homeless. Unlike the first book, which told a cohesive narrative from beginning to end, this followup book, tells additional anecdotes from James and Bob's time together. It appears that the stories are in chronological order, but they don't really tell one single narrative. Instead, each chapter is something of a self-contained story. Perhaps while writing the first book, the writer who helped with compiling it and/or the editors decided to leave out certain details, but then gathered them together into this new volume. In any case, they deepen the story of one man and his loyal cat.

There are all sorts of stories contained in this book. We learn about tricks that Bob learned and happily performed for the passers-by while James was trying to busk or sell The Big Issue. There are stories of Bob making friends with both humans and other animals. James also tells the sad story of bearing witness to a fellow addict OD'ing and trying to save him. There's the heartbreaking tales of James suffering from physical ailments, either brought on or exacerbated by his prior drug use that are also made heartwarming as "Doctor Bob" tries his best to raise his human's spirits. There are tales of James and Bob's brief meetings with a couple of recognizable public figures. There are also frustrating stories of people, who didn't understand the bond between James and Bob, accusing James of mistreating his cat. James additionally relates how he took a brave step forward to author these books even though he never expected them to become the success that they've been. There are many other tales contained within this book's pages, but these are a few of the highlights.

After being completely captivated by A Street Cat Named Bob, I was eager to read the rest of the books in the series. The World According to Bob definitely lived up to its predecessor. In fact, it was perhaps just a little better because the narrative felt a bit more polished, which was my only small issue with the first book that dropped a half star. I'm still astounded by just how much one little ginger feline was able to help a man in need. Bob gave James the impetus he needed to get clean once and for all, he helped James repair his relationships with his family, he helped his human earn more money to stay off the streets, and he helped with facilitating more human connections for James that led to these bestselling books. Most of all, I think Bob helped James become a better person, someone who now wants to use his small bit of fame to help others, both humans and animals. Once again, I was also struck by what a smart kitty Bob was. He just seemed to have an intuition for all sorts of things and was very protective of his human. Bob was such an inspiration who touched lives all over the world with his sweet, funny, radiant personality. The world, and especially, I'm sure, James, lost a real treasure when Bob passed in 2020, something I was deeply saddened to discover after reading the first book. But his spirit lives on in these narratives of his life and the difference he made to so many. I was totally invested in every story that was told in this book and very much enjoyed learning more about this inspirational feline. Now I can't wait to read the final book, A Gift From Bob, very soon.

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James Bowen @ Wikipedia