The Blessings of the Animals 
Release date: 2010 / 424 pages
Synopsis (from the back cover): Veterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough patch. Stymied by her recent divorce, she wonders if there are secret ingredients to a happy, long-lasting marriage or if the entire institution is outdated and obsolete…
First Sentence: On the morning my husband left me, hours before I knew he would, I looked at the bruised March sky and recognized tornado green.
Review: I can’t remember the last time I wanted to prolong a book as much as I did this one — a novel that had me hoping for rain and an empty afternoon… and it’s 424 pages long!! I so loved it from beginning to middle to end that I already miss Cammie, Muriel, Luna, and Storm Watch. As a life-long animal lover, this novel seemed to be written just for me.
Cami is a veterinarian who volunteers for the Humane Society, rescuing animals in need of a good home. (This is who I would have become if I had the brain for science and the stomach to endure the witnessing the pain of abuse). The novel is, at heart, a hero’s journey as Cami recovers from the dissolution of her marriage and learns to embrace a life of her choice. She is surrounded by a lovely menagerie of friends — both furry and human — and a family who populate the novel vividly. Kittle is able to form characters fully in one page and then intertwine each in just the right amount.
My only hesitation was when Kittle chose to occasionally switch the point of view to another character — which she does periodically, but briefly. This wasn’t really necessary since Kittle is so good at character development, we could have filled in those chapters ourselves without the actual perspective of the character; however, the breaks from Cami are so short and focused, they didn’t slow the narrative at all.
Once I finished the novel, I read the supplemental materials in the back and learned that Kittle had experienced an unexpected divorce, left her teaching job, and travelled around trying to find her true center. I loved the following insight, mostly a key to why this novel works so well: “My divorce caused some pretty serious rewriting… The novel sat for nearly ten months. When I returned to it, I was a totally different person and had to start over. I did — for a time — fall into that self-indulgent, boring literary trap of forcing my fiction into the straitjacket of my own life story.” She then thanks her editor for freeing her from that trap. She also includes a quote from Lao-tzu that informs the heart of this novel:
At the center of your being
you have the answer;
you know who you are
and you know what you want.
This describes Cami’s journey and reflects the authenticity of this novel. I would recommend this novel to any animal-lover in a heartbeat. I’m not convinced it would be the best book club choice as far as generating discussion is concerned, but I am convinced that most, if not all, of your book club would enjoy it thoroughly.
Interested in winning a free copy? Simply leave me a comment and I’ll choose a winner by this weekend! By the way, Katrina Kittle will be on Blog Talk Radio with Book Club Girl (actually, with Book Club Girl’s co-worker, Erica) on August 26th at 7pm ET Interested? Here’s the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/book-club-girl/2010/08/26/katrina-kittle-discusses-the-blessings-of-the-animals.
For other reviews, check out the following sites:
Tuesday, August 3rd: Reviews From the Heart
Wednesday, August 4th: Rundpinne
Thursday, August 5th: Chick With Books
Tuesday, August 10th: Raging Bibliomania
Monday, August 16th: Café of Dreams
Wednesday, August 18th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Thursday, August 19th: Booksie’s Blog
Tuesday, August 24th: The Little Reader
Wednesday, August 25th: Take Me Away
Thursday, August 26th: Books and Things
Wow – sounds like a great read! I would love to read it. Please include my name in the drawing!
Thanks for continung to spotlight wonderful books.
Betsy
Thank you so much for this wonderful post. I too am a life-long animal lover. Your review makes me want to read this book and experience your same enjoyment : ) Please enter my name in the drawing.
I enjoyed the review, this woman’s real life parallel of the story and her ability to come back to the writing after finding her true center and re-write the story. I’d love to win this.
Thanks!
Hi Kristen – This sounds like a book I would want to DEVOUR! Pick me, okay?
-Renee
This really seems like a wonderful read. I’d love to win it. Thanks Kristen!
sounds like my kind of book
thanks for the opportunity!
I’ve been wanting to read this one since seeing it on another page a while ago. Please include me, thanks.
I’d love to try for this one! Thanks!
Sounds like a good book to suggest to my book club members as one to read in-between our book club choices. We have several animal lovers
Sometimes there are books that are simply meant to be read and enjoyed rather than discussed and dissected and this seems to be one of those “just enjoy it” books. Thanks for being a part of the tour!
(no need to enter me)
I’d love to read this book.
Thanks for the chance.
I really enjoyed her last book (“Kindness of Strangers” a little rough, but very interesting book club discussion). Enjoy her writing style and this one looks quite interesting as well. It’ll be added to my “to read” list.
Thanks so much for this review and for these lovely comments. You’ve made my day. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the exposure and kind words–means the world to me!