Product Description

The preeminent work by one of France’s most celebrated young comics artists, The Rabbi’s Cat tells the wholly unique story of a rabbi, his daughter, and their talking cat–a philosopher brimming with scathing humor and surprising tenderness.
In Algeria in the 1930s, a cat belonging to a widowed rabbi and his beautiful daughter, Zlabya, eats the family parrot and gains the ability to speak. To his master’s consternation, the cat immediately begins to tell lies (the first being that he didn’t eat the parrot). The rabbi vows to educate him in the ways of the Torah, while the cat insists on studying the kabbalah and having a Bar Mitzvah. They consult the rabbi’s rabbi, who maintains that a cat can’t be Jewish–but the cat, as always, knows better.
Zlabya falls in love with a dashing young rabbi from Paris, and soon master and cat, having overcome their shared self-pity and jealousy, are accompanying the newlyweds to France to meet Zlabya’s cosmopolitan in-laws. Full of drama and adventure, their trip invites countless opportunities for the rabbi and his cat to grapple with all the important–and trivial–details of life.
Rich with the colors, textures, and flavors of Algeria’s Jewish community, The Rabbi’s Cat brings a lost world vibrantly to life–a time and place where Jews and Arabs coexisted–and peoples it with endearing and thoroughly human characters, and one truly unforgettable cat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34142 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-22
• Released on: 2007-05-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780375714641
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Sfar, the French cartoonist behind the Little Vampire children's books, has come up with a hilarious and wildly original graphic novel for adults. The nameless, scraggly-looking alley cat who narrates the story belongs to an Algerian rabbi in the '30s. When the cat eats a parrot, he gains the power of speech and tries to convince his master to teach him the Torah, raising the question of whether the appropriate age for his bar mitzvah should be in human years or cat years. Of course, being a cat, he has plenty of impertinent opinions about Judaism. That's a delicious setup on its own, but it gets better when the cat loses his speech again halfway through, and the story becomes a broader, more bittersweet comedy about the rabbi's family and the intersection of Jewish, Arab and French culture. The rabbi's daughter Zlabya marries a young man from a nonobservant family in France. The Algerian family's visit with their Parisian in-laws is the subject of the final and funniest section of the book. Sfar's artwork looks as mangy and unkempt as the cat, with contorted figures and scribbly lines everywhere, but there's a poetic magic to it that perfectly captures this cat's-eye view of human culture and faith. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–A slinky gray cat lives with a rabbi and his beautiful young daughter. One day, the feline eats their parrot, only to find that he has gained the birds ability to talk. Witty and highly intelligent, the cat immediately decides that he wants to learn more about Judaism, from the Kabbalah to the Torah. Thus begins this funny, sad, spiritual, and utterly delightful trio of tales. The stories tell much about Jewish life in the 1930s, both in the initial setting of Algeria and in Paris. They also impart Jewish teachings and philosophies in a highly entertaining way, bringing to mind Jostein Gaarders Sophies World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy (Berkley, 1996). Sfar is predominantly known in this country for his Little Vampire childrens series (S & S), and the drawings have the colorful, cartoon quality of those works while still fitting the sophistication of these. His palette is a gorgeous mix of earth tones that perfectly captures the North African setting. There is plenty for teens to like–humor, romance, and theological questioning combined with a folkloric quality to bring to life a multifaceted work. Sfar is highly praised in France; heres hoping more of his creations are translated.–Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Best known in America for his Little Vampire children's books, French comics creator Sfar here presents a story seemingly based--the surname Sfar crops up--in familial history. A rabbi, a widower nearing 60, lives with his nubile daughter, a cat, and a parrot in 1930s Algiers. The cat narrates throughout, but the parrot doesn't last long. Annoyed by its squawking, the cat eats it, after which the cat can speak human language (it immediately lies about the parrot, so the rabbi forbids it to talk to his daughter--and, oh, by the way, it could already read), at least until it calls out the name of God, after which it's back to "meow." Subsequent big events include a visit by the rabbi's handsome, charismatic cousin (is it charisma, though, or the lion that always accompanies him that makes others fawn on him?), the rabbi's French-dictation test by the rabbinical college in Paris, the arrival of a new young rabbi, the daughter's marriage, and the rabbi's journey with the newlyweds to Paris to meet the groom's very secular parents. It is, altogether, utterly charming. Sfar's artwork, crammed with detail (sometimes ravishing, as when the rabbi, in the background, is also seen through a raindrop in the foreground), recalls that of Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeleine books, and his portrayal of a society in which Jews and Muslims were friends and comrades speaks volumes to our times. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A wonderful, funny-sad book
The Rabbi's Cat is a wonderful book. I heard the author speak on NPR and got the book. The book is in the form of a comic strip, each box lovingly illustrated by the author. The pictures are wonderful, particularly of the cat. They are a joy to behold.

Even better are the stories, anecdotes taken from the lives of the Jews in North Africa in the thirties. The stories are both very sad and hysterically funny. The cat has a sardonic turn of phrase that had me in stitches. Through the difficult medium of comics, the author has managed to capture the atmosphere of the time and place. Much of the book is given to musings about life, philosophy, love, God and so on. If you like a good discussion, you'll enjoy this book.

Although the books can be enjoyed by non-Jews, I think if you don't know the basics of Judaism, you'll be missing the most vital part of the book. Of course, the book is so appropriate for the cat lover. The author clearly understands cats perfectly.

Blessed are those who transgress
This book works on many different levels. I feel that the main theme of this work is summed up in one panel, when the rabbi says, "Blessed are thou, who allows us to transgress."
There is an underlying theme of bitterness in this book; the rabbi is widowed; the cat wants to become a bar-mitzvah, Paris has changed the rabbi's family, and the wonderful singer can only find work as a clown.
The main story is that of a cat narrating the events in the lives of his owners, a rabbi and his daughter. When the cat eats a parrot, he gains the power of speech, only to lose it when he wants to break one of the ten commandments.
There is a lot of religious details the author has provided, but for some reason he left out one rabbinic tradition, that of a wife cutting her hair when she marries.
Another theme is the role ignorance of Kabbalah and Talmud play in religious circles.
In summary, this book is a wonderful tale, but not meant for kids, due to some of the translated language.

My Rabbi loved this book too
This book is great fun to read. The cat is a wonderful character, particularly when he is arguing theology and Talmud. I suspect if cats really could talk and argue theology, they'd act much like the one drawn in this book. In fact the book was inspired by the author's real cat (who doesn't speak, at least that I know of :-)) but apparently does understand how to keep his humans.

This book can be enjoyed on several levels - as a fable about a cat and his humans, as a series of theological and philosophical debates, or just as a fun story about a talking cat and his adventures with his master.

An important story element about midway through that the cat never figures out, but my wife did - it is an exchange, not a loss. This will make more sense after you've finished the book.

One does not have to be Jewish or a scholar to appreciate the story and humor, but we gave a copy to our Rabbi as a gift and he loved it too. A couple more gift copies are planned too. Is that a positive endorsement or what?

Parents of small children be warned - you might want to edit out the use of one bad word and some discussions of sexual topics.