Some months ago, I read this book:
The book is quite light-hearted, despite the rather heavy theme of death that very much permeates it, and its detailing of the life of
Oscar the therapy cat, who lived in the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
One would think that its theme of senior patients dying, and having to bid farwell to their relatives (in the case those were even present), under the watchful eyes of the seemingly omniscient cat Oscar would prove to be a rather grim read, but author David Dosa (who's also the doctor who operates the very same clinic that Oscar lived in) manages to "juggle" the sweet and interesting story of Oscar with that of the oftentimes sad but also bittersweet tales of the patients of the clinic under whose care Oscar's watchful eyes fell.
Much of the book isn't about Oscar himself, but rather about these patients in the clinic, under whose care Oscar would eventually cuddle up against in their final days or hours on this mortal coil. One would think that this would make the patients abhor Oscar (David Dosa and the staff feared this to be the case, at least initially), but it was very much the contrary: both the patients themselves and their respective families seemed to rejoice in Oscar's presence in the final time of the patient's lives. Oscar wasn't an executioner of sorts, but rather a harbringer of a sad truth, one which the affected seemed to accept in the gentle and warm caress which Oscar's fluffy and purring embrace provided.
If you are in the need to read something "real" but also hopeful and rather light-hearted, I can recommend this book. It's rather thin and an easy read, and while it does deal with the heavy theme of death and the great tragedy of diseases such as dementia, it manages to be quite sweet, all things considered, and it makes one ponder life itself and how it affects us all, not least our feline friends like Oscar.
