Book Review and Tour: The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

Title: The Blessings of the Animals
Author: Katrina Kittle
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: August 3, 2010
Paperback: 464 pages
ISBN: 978-0061906077
Genre: Fiction

About the Book:

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divorce, she wonders if there are secret ingredients to a happy, long-lasting marriage or if the entire institution is outdated and obsolete. Couples all around her are approaching important milestones. Her parents are preparing to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. Her brother and his partner find their marriage dreams legally blocked. Her former sister-in-law—still her best friend—is newly engaged. The youthfully exuberant romance of her teenage daughter is developing complications. And three separate men—including her ex-husband—are becoming entangled in Cami’s messy post-marital love life.

But as she struggles to come to terms with her own doubts amid this chaotic circus of relationships, Cami finds strange comfort in an unexpected confidant: an angry, unpredictable horse in her care. With the help of her equine soul mate, she begins to make sense of marriage’s great mysteries—and its disconnects.

My Review:

The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle is a beautiful woven tapestry of the many facets of love. Dr. Cami Anderson is a wife, mother, Veterinarian and a volunteer for the Humane Society. Cami believes her life is going fairly well until the morning she arrives home with a rescued horse and her husband Bobby announces he is leaving her and their 17-year-old daughter Gabriel. While the story is primarily told through Cami, the reader does get a glimpse into the lives of other narrators. Kittle does a brilliant job illustrating how love, marriage and commitment can indeed have many different definitions; it is all in the perspective. Cami’s parents are about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, her brother Davy and his partner Dave are trying to adopt, her best friend Helen appears to have a solid relationship with Hank, Olive is finally engaged to Nick, and finally Gabriella is trying to not only understand what is happening between her parents but is also struggling with her relationship with Tyler. Kittle’s characters are well defined, descriptive, easy to understand, care about (most of them) and relate with. The story lines are woven together, much as life is to form a rich narrative punctuated by the unconditional love animals are able to provide and the lessons they teach us, especially what Moonshot imparts to Cami. This is truly one of the most moving books I have read recently and I will be making certain every woman I know receives a copy; the novel is remarkable. The Blessings of the Animals is a beautiful and moving story of love, loss, forgiveness, and learning to move on. I would not hesitate to recommend The Blessings of the Animals to any reader but warn that Kleenex may at times be needed.

About the Author:

Katrina was born in Illinois but has lived in the Dayton area since first grade. She attended Ohio University and was Outstanding Graduating Senior for both the English and Education departments. She taught high school English and theatre at Centerville High School for five years, and she taught middle school English and theatre at the Miami Valley School for six. She has also worked as a house cleaner, a veterinary assistant, a children’s theatre director, a costumer, and as case management support for the AIDS Resource Center (formerly AIDS Foundation Miami Valley).

Katrina is the author of Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, and The Kindness of Strangers. The Kindness of Strangers was a BookSense pick and the winner of the 2006 Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction. Early chapters from that novel earned her grants from both the Ohio Arts Council and Culture Works.

She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University in Louisville.

When not writing, Katrina enjoys gardening, cooking, traveling, acting, and time spent in the presence of animals (especially horses). She is the proud aunt of Amy and Nathan, and lives in the Dayton area with her cat and a kickass garden.

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Katrina Kittle will be on Blog Talk Radio with Book Club Girl (with Book Club Girl’s co-worker, Erica) on August 26th at 7pm ET.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.