My Cat Saved My Life

by Phillip Schreibman

Book Overview

This is a true story of the author's friendship with Alice, a cat, and how she helped him through a difficult time in his life, bringing him to a new level of looking at both life and death. My Cat... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585420638
• ISBN13: 9781585420636
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Tarcher
• Length: 109 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Must-read For Anyone who is Lost and Grieving

Don't let the title or short length of this book fool you - it contains a huge amount of wisdom. You don't have to be a cat lover to appreciate what the author is going through and what he learns. He has put exactly into words what I have been thinking for a long time. He has done an amazing job.

sob fest

if you like to cry, then read this book! of course, it's not heart - wrenchingly sad the entire way, but when you get to the part where ... well ... read the book & you'll see what i mean. i don't think i've ever sobbed so hard over a book in my entire life -- it even disturbed my cats! they thought something must be terribly wrong with me, because i was crying so hard, & so they came over to comfort me. here i was crying over a cat i had never met in my life & my cats came over to comfort ME. just like a cat! & that's why i love them so much ... so anyway, if you don't like to cry, or if you find yourself moved by very little in life, this might not be the book for you. the book is also tied together with schreibman's own brand of touchy - feely, new - agey spirituality -- if you can overlook that, or if you actually like that sort of thing, then reading this book might turn out to be a profoundly moving experience for you, as it was for me.

An Insightful and Heartfelt Journey - Not Just for Cat Lover

This was truly one of the most insightful and heartfelt books I have ever read. This is a book not just for cat lovers, this is a book for all people. It is especially helpful for anyone who has ever felt the pain and grief of losing a loved one. Phillip Schreibman does not tell a "story," but takes the reader on a journey with him and Alice, the precious kitten he rescues, as she transforms his life and slowly, brings him back from the numbing pain that grief causes, and teaches him how to live and love again; how to look at life with wonder and joy. As a cat lover, and also as someone who is grieving, I read this book with a sense of profound wonder and amazement. Never have I been so genuinely touched by what the author refers to as a "small story." This clearly is the biggest story a person can tell -- how the love of an animal can take you from despair to and open your heart to seeing the world again (this time, through the eyes of his precious Alice), and experiencing life. As I read, I empathized, laughed, cried and was deeply touched. I took away with me "life lessons" that will remain with me forever. After reading this, I found myself watching my own cat and observing how he instinctively knew when I was sad and in his own special way that only a cat has, reached out to me. Now, I let him in and am slowly learning to open my heart up again. I applaud and thank Philip Schreibman for sharing with us this tremendous book, and give it the highest recommendation possible. Give yourself a special gift, and read this. You will be glad you did!

Profound

Being a cat-lover I'm often drawn to books about them, I usually try to avoid buying because most turn out to be sweet but with little substance..Thank goodness I didn't resist MY CAT SAVED MY LIFE by Phillip Schreibman.This book touched me immensely...as time passes I realize more and more so much of life is about goodbyes and losing the people we love. This book helps answer how to go on living, the part grief must play and yes how so many lessons our animals (and for me that is cats:) can teach us if only we open our hearts. A book I know I'll read often and turn to to be reminded what life has to offer if only we will accept...

A handbook for the journey towards dealing with loss.

This book is not just about dealing with the loss of a pet. It is the best book I have ever read (and I have read many) about the process of grieving. It is true, I just lost a pet; that is why I bought the book. In reading it, though, I experienced a profound catharsis that has allowed me to move forward through the grieving process more quickly and peacefully than I have ever done before. Reading this book has helped my heart to heal, not just from the death of my cat, but from all the losses that I have experienced, which, as I get older, seem to be cumulative. While the book is superficially the tale of a mystical cat whose soul connected with the author, it is in a much more important way about living in the world, of which death is a part. The book is poem about understanding that conundrum, and I know that I will refer to it again and again. To anyone whose heart is sorely grieving, who is stuck in a rut in the mourning process, I would say: read this book, it will make you cry and it will help you heal. If it were anyone I knew, I would give them this book. Thank you, Mr. Schreibman.