1 out of 4 stars
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Diary of a Snoopy Cat by R.F. Kristi is a light-hearted tale of Inca, a London cat who dreams of becoming a world-famous detective. With the help of her housemates (two cats and a hamster) and a neighbor cat, she investigates a legal dispute between a neighbor dog’s owner and his roommate. There is also a nearly-irrelevant side story about a neighbor injured while mountain climbing in the Himalayas. This is one in a series of stories about these animals solving mysteries.
This book seems unable to decide where it wants to be in the spectrum of animal-narrators vs anthropomorphic animal characters. It is told as if from the view point of ordinary pets, but then we find that the cats can read and write. One is apparently telepathic. The author rushes to provide back story and character information before it is needed. The reader is reminded of conversing with a 10-year-old who hasn’t learned to select the relevant details or read their audience for interest. Many traits that could be shown are repeatedly told.
The story is told in one- and two-line paragraphs, which creates a really awkward flow. Sometimes thoughts that should flow together are separated by a break. The chosen font is not quite Comic Sans, but similar and distracting. Descriptions are rare and when present seem careless, such as “The house somewhat resembled the house that was occupied by the Senora and Polo. A large house with spacious rooms and plenty of space.” The author consistently capitalizes the word will (as in Last Will and Testament), which is distracting and odd.
The antagonist is identified early and gratuitously fat-shamed throughout the book. At times, it feels like the biggest complaint about him is his size, not his misdeed. All of the characters are one-dimensional, with little attempt at nuance. The human characters are useless, ostensibly to give the animals a chance to work out the mystery, but there really isn’t anything to unveil. The answer is everyone’s first guess.
This kind of story can work if it carefully employs tongue-in-cheek humor about the relationship of animals to people and each other. But this work has little of that self-awareness in its style. It seems to be earnestly but inexpertly told. Younger readers might enjoy the silliness of the animals, but most will become bored by the predictability and absurdity of the dilemma. I started out wanting to like this book, but I rate it 1 out of 4 stars.
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Diary of a Snoopy Cat
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