Here, Kitty, Kitty

by Winifred Elze

Living by the Adirondack Forest Preserve, Emma and Max Vernon try to recover after the violent death of Emma's father on nearby Ten-acre Island, until Emma witnesses strange, savage creatures with a taste for human flesh inhabiting the island. Reprint.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Cassandra Glissadevil · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.9 stars Frighting, frisky, feline, fritterphobia

I kind of enjoyed the front first half of "Here, Kitty, Kitty!!! However, the plot clogs, stops drops and rolls, bogs down as Emma's paw's pause, swiping catnip claw's. High calorie Animal Planet sugar.

"Here, Kitty, Kitty" is OK, yet I wish the Salvation Army had donated a different raspberry Red Cross apocalypse bargain book to my favorite charity! ...Me

At first, I thought I was embarking on a novel of horror. Kitty was horrific if you count novels written by Cat Lady's and their scary fantasies of prehistoric saber toothed cats and woolly mammoths invading the neighborhood. If you watch Animal Planet regularly I would up this rating to a solid 4 stars, because there's poetry writ upon the pages. Narrative from the cat's perspective. The characterizations aren't bad either. The setting is good too. I just couldn't take another page of a cuddly prehistoric animal.

If you feel the way I do, then stay away from "Here, Kitty, Kitty." If on the other hand, you adore YouTube Kitty porn and would give your left arm to pet a sweet woolly mammoth baby then by all means dive into Winifreds Elze's flawed masterpiece right away!

[Terri L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as thrilling as the reviews stated. I was interested in what was happening but saw the ending way before the characters did. This may have been intended for a younger audience. It was entertaining and a new idea so I guess that’s something.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this years ago and enjoyed it. Remembered it recently and may have to revisit it.

[Kelly Roll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover but I did with this one and had assumed that I would be getting a nice cheesy b flavored horror story about a family pet that goes psycho. In this case, i think the author was ill served by her cover. Those individuals not looking for the cat equivalent of Cujo probably passed this book by which is too bad because what we get instead is a nice bit of speculative fiction. Horror fans, on the other hand are going to be disappointed. Emma is still mourning the mysterious death of her father from the year before. She,her husband and her cat live in a small upstate village in New York across from a small island.
Emma begins to see odd creatures that no one else sees such as a giant deer, beaver etc. However, in the town itself something has been overturning dumpsters killing sheep etc.
Eventually one of the townspeople is savagely mauled to death and the townsfolk take up arms. They eventually run into a dire wolf. Additional animals begin to appear...
Turns out Emma's father had been doing work with a maser and had opened a portal between the present day and the Pleistocene Era. Animals can see the portals into the different time zones and jump through them.
Emma too eventually stumbles into the wrong time and runs into a few surprises before she makes it back to her own time.
Be warned, part of the narration is told from the cat's point of view which might be difficult for some readers. Her narration is, in some respects the most interesting part of the book though.
I particularly enjoyed the ending. Massive numbers of animals begin to flee through the portal to escape a man made fire in the Pleistocene era. As they enter present day time, instead of shooting them en masse (excluding one hunter who gets his comeuppance) , the humans attempt to help the wounded, exhausted animals.
I appreciated this one little spot of hope to counteract our grim ecological reality.

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is my pleasure to describe Winifred Elze’s wonderful book: “Here Kitty Kitty” from 1996. It touches on horror without being frightening. It also grazes science fiction, grounded in a present day setting that feels normal. It is one of the best books I’ve read, with a uniqueness that is refreshing, memorable, and appealing to anyone favouring these genres. I put off reviewing it a long while, not due solely to chameleon categorization. I want to do this novel justice.

‘Emma’ and her cat ‘Billie’, live in the Adirondacks with her husband. Nearby are her sister and brother-in-law, an anthropologist. Even her cat’s brother lives with a neighbour. A stone’s throw across the lake is an island, where they inexplicably spot Billie and retrieve her by boat. She drives the story, able to see a red hue of portals popping out of nowhere. Each leads to the island… millennia in the past! She hunts prehistoric rodents and to return, awaits other portals, which land on either side of the lake. Emma’s father, a scientist, died of an unexplained attack on the island. They knew he had experimented with a ‘maser’ but only the cat was aware of the portals it continued to create.

Billie’s peculiar exits and entries from a closed house and the sisters needing to deal with their father’s research cabin, spark Emma to investigate. I have no critique except a frequent cliché of needing coffee and the protagonist sounding a lot older than we discover she is. Lastly, Winifred writes a perspective of cats & humans not understanding each other; for instance calling birds ‘feathery things’. Animals know the words for our world but I accepted her fiction. I love the town’s concern for extinct animals who come through and kept reading all night to finish!

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

HERE KITTY, KITTY is a thoughtful novel about the beauty and the cruelty of nature and left me with both a feeling of hope, wishing the author's world of was possible, and a feeling of sadness knowing in reality it probably isn't. Parts of the story were a bit hard to stomach, the author paints vivid and painful images of the brutality of man and nature but they make the story all the more powerful. Being owned by a cat myself, I can vouch for the authenticity of Billie's character, her scenes were accurately done with care and were interesting to read but the book's main flaw is a lack of decent characterization. This is a book for those with a strong stomach who have a soft spot in their heart for the injustice done to animals in the wild.

[Court · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book but I hated the title and cover. If I hadn't already known what it was about - time travel! weird points of view - I might never have picked it up. That, of course, isn't the author's fault. She wrote a very engaging story that kept me guessing, and the implications of what something like this would do to the real world were very intriguing. I really don't want to meet a saber toothed cat in my backyard, though.

[Jewel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 to 4 stars. I liked this book, there are parts told from the cats point of view which made me think of my cats and wonder. But this cat can see breaks/circles/portals from the present to the past in the atmosphere, and wonders why her humans don't react the same way. I found no horror in this book, but lots of interesting science fiction thoughts, and fantasy elements.

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

very dissapointed! The book touts that it is full of terror. Not even a drop of terror could be found. would not recommend to anyone.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb calls this book horror, to which I can only say: what???? It's more sci-fi than anything else. Easy, enjoyable read, but nothing to write home about.