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Description

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Rebecca van Laer and her partner purchase a home and move in with their senior cats, Toby and Gus. Their loved ones see this as a step toward an inevitable future-first comes the house, then a dog, then a child. But what if they are just cat people?

Moving between memoir, philosophy, and pop culture, Cat is a playful and tender meditation on cats and their people. Van Laer considers cats' role in her personal narrative, where they are mascots of laziness and lawlessness, and in cultural narratives, where they appear as feminine, anarchic, and maladapted, especially in comparison to dogs.

From the stereotype of the 'crazy cat lady' to the joy of cat memes to the grief of pet loss, van Laer demonstrates that the cat-person relationship is free of the discipline and dependence required by parenting (and dog-parenting), creating a less hierarchical intimacy that offers a different model for love.

Table of Contents

Cats vs. Dogs
Cats in Families
Cats with Jobs
The Ninth Life
Kittens
Cats Outside
New Cats
Cats in Literature
Cats Forever

Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Oct 02 2025
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 160
ISBN 9798765114629
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 1 b&w illustration
Dimensions 6 x 5 inches
Series Object Lessons
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Rebecca van Laer

Rebecca van Laer holds a PhD in English from Brown…

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