Name: Penny
ISBN: 9781452183053

Karl Stevens

Penny, an unusually introspective housecat with a vivid imagination, muses about her life and dreams--from the streets to the Boston apartment she shares with her human.

Penny

Deepika Ramesh

I haven’t lived with a cat, but I still find Penny relatable because Penny’s struggles are mine too. Her philosophical meditations are urgent. What is life? How do we cope with existential dread? Why are we here? What is our place in the universe? Is it possible to have freedom and safety? Is a quiet life of contemplation and reflection enough? Penny turns these questions in a self-important tone in her head. Her reverie and thought experiments (she is obsessed with extra dimensions and portals and asteroids made of cat food) are often broken by her humans who can’t see the postmodernist philosopher in her. 

Are there answers? Perhaps, asking is enough. 

“Eh. I should probably stop asking all these questions and be happy that I am warm, dry, and well-fed. It is good to be a petit bourgeois wallowing in smug privilege.”

Briar's Reviews

Penny by Karl Stevens is an interesting graphic novel about a very philosophical cat.

This book was a little dull for me, but the illustrations were incredible. Penny was a stray kitten on the street who was picked up, "kidnapped", and adopted by a couple. They bring Penny home and the cat begins to think about everything philosophical about a cat, existence and life itself. The cat is sassy, intelligent and has an intriguing story.

I thought this book might be funnier or a bit more engaging than it was. I found it very slow to get through but I really like cats and graphic novels and I really wanted to finish it. 

Overall, this is a good book but it wasn't fast enough or funny enough for me. It was advertised as a comedy on NetGalley which is why I was excited for it.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Penny

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