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ninetalevixen 's review for:

All Cats Are Introverts by Francesco Marciuliano
3.0

I received an advance review copy from Andrews McMeel Publishing through Netgalley; all opinions are my own and honest.

2.5 stars.

The concept — "cats are hilariously relatable to human introverts" — is solid, and I really enjoyed the derpy cat photos throughout the book. However, the poems were pretty formulaic, especially for free verse: the vast majority relied on parallelism and ended with a punchline "twist", usually riffing on one of maybe five already-overused jokes about cat behavior. The lack of punctuation also made it difficult to tell whether I had reached the end of the poem since ADE only let me view one page at a time, which threw off my reading.

Additionally, knowing that this is supposed to be viewed through a cat's perspective made some of the poems just ... weird? I know people tend to personify pets, but I just have a hard time believing that a cat would really think some of these things.
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CONVERSION: 7.3 / 15 = 2.5 stars

Prose: 4 / 10
Characters & Relationships: N/A
Emotional Impact: 6 / 10
Development / Flow: 3 / 10
Setting: N/A

Diversity & Social Themes: N/A
Intellectual Engagement: 3 / 5
Originality / Trope Execution: N/A
Rereadability: 4 / 5
Memorability: 2 / 5