Bodacious: The Shepherd Cat

by Suzanna Crampton

BODACIOUS: THE SHEPHERD CAT is a heart-warming and charming tale in which Bodacious tells us about life as The Shepherd Cat on Black Sheep Farm.


‘I am Bodacious, The Shepherd Cat , and this is my story. I wasn't always called Bodacious. I must have been called something else in my kitten-hood in the nearby city of Kilkenny, but it's all a bit of a mystery to My Human. As far as she's concerned, I appeared one day and have never left. It's a secret I plan to keep.’


Written from the perspective of Bodacious the cat, this is a beautifully written memoir of Bodacious’s life on the farm and everything that entails — early mornings, frosty starts, beautiful sunrises,adventurous rare-breed Zwartbles sheep, hard work, entertaining animals, mouth-watering food, kind people and idyllic country living with its highs and lows.


The Shepherd often tells Bodacious her favourite story of how she went out to buy red ribbon to wrap a gift for her friend, but instead came home with a gift for herself: a daring,assertive, ambitious cat looking for a home. But soon The Shepherd realises she needs Bodacious as much as he needs her. As soon as he arrives, Bodacious saunters around the farm like he owns the place and immediately establishes himself as Top Cat. But Bodacious isn’t content to pad round the house and curl up by the Aga, and soon he befriends a farm cat called Oscar who trains him in the ways of the farm. As well as Oscar, Bodacious gets to know all the other animals on the farm — cats Miss Marley and Ovenmitt, the scruffy border collie/fox terrier-cross called Pepper, and The Big Fellow, to name a few.


With wonderful characterisation, humour, sharp observation, and a plucky attitude, Bodacious shows us the ropes of Black Sheep Farm. As we soak in the atmosphere of the house, the orchards and the fields, we also learn how this Top Cat Shepherd got his name – by being 'Big, bold, beautiful, bolshie', as his Shepherd always says…

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Cats, Ireland

282 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2018

Reviews

[Kirsti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, I seem to be in the minority here, but I didn't particularly like this book. It's written from the cat, Bodacious' perspective and thus I would expect it to well, be about the cat. Instead however, most of the time it tells you about The Shepherd and her life. The cat starts these stories with lines like "The Sheperd tells me stories about...' and then proceeds to tell you all about The Sheperd's life before The Farm. I found it really irritating and ended up skimming these bits, essentially ruining the rest of the book. As always, I'm here for the cat, and if The Shepherd/Author wanted the book to be all about her, then the marketing has failed here.

Moving on to something new, hopefully something better. Two stars.

[Uhtred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bodacious is the name of the cat protagonist of this book. Indeed, more correctly, he is the author of this book. Bodacious, in fact, writes personally, at least until the unexpected ending, when the word is taken by the Shepherdess, as he calls its owner, in reality the sheep breeder and author of the book Suzanna Crampton.
If you love Ireland, especially the Kilkenny area, and if you love life in the open air, on farms, with animals and plants of all kinds, well, this book is for you. The Shepherdess uses the voice of Bodacious (which means "wonderful, magnificent") to tell us many things (beautiful and ugly) about Ireland, her childhood in America, how life on a farm is, what are the Irish uses, how she managed to maintain her grandparents' farm in Kilkenny after their death, reinventing herself as a producer of Zwartbles sheep wool blankets and how, using social media, she managed to create a network of friends and customers all over the world. She did it, of course, but together with Bodacious, the shepherd cat who accompanies her in all her adventures. Through the careful point of view of Bodacious, we therefore have the opportunity to experience the life of a cat on a farm: splendid sunrises, laying hens, hard work, unexpected events, births of lambs, delicious food and a heavenly landscape.
Bodacious tells everything from a cat's point of view, so it makes us find strange the habits of us men, compared to what animal experiences are; in short, he makes us see them from another point of view. And this in itself is already a great thing. In addition, this book allows us to spend some beautiful hours immersed in a bucolic atmosphere, the kind you find it hard to believe that still exist, but that if you know Ireland, you know that it is real. It is a book divided in four parts, the four seasons, precisely to indicate that on the farms you work at any time of the year, Christmas and other holidays included. A nice book, in some points similar to those of the great James Herriot.

[Marla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the Black Sheep Farm in Ireland, and narrated from the point of view of Bodacious the Shepherd Cat (although ghost written by Suzanna Crampton). Once the writing finds it feet along a good story, I couldn't put it down. I found the writing so evocative and beautiful. The book covers life on the farm from spring to winter, but also covers the life of The Shepherd outside of the farm and leading up to taking over there. Once I finished, I gave a great happy sigh. A sure sign I loved every minute of the book.

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Black Sheep Farm in County Kilkenny, with gentle fields that slope towards the River Nore, Bodacious the Shepherd Cat can be seen amongst the rare-breed black Zwartbles sheep which give the farm, not just its name but which also produce the rather special yarn from which the shepherd produces beautifully soft blankets.

Bodacious first came to Black Sheep Farm as an abandoned cat and quickly became accustomed to farm life, tending sheep, caring for the lady egg givers and generally making his presence felt amongst the other animals who call the farm home, and as the farm closed itself around Bodacious, so Bodacious lovingly wrapped himself around Black Sheep Farm becoming as one with its rhythms and routines.

This lovely look at a year in the adventurous life of Bodacious takes us through the seasons. From spring through to winter there is never a dull moment in the life of this intrepid farm cat, be it tending his flock, supervising lambing or patrolling against the ever present threat of foxes, what is always guaranteed is that he does so with lively wit and considerable charm.

The very essence of Bodacious is captured so beautifully that it becomes a real pleasure to turn the pages of this lovely book to see just what's going to happen next as he goes about his important farm business. His voice is strong and purposeful as he chivies and scolds and generally makes sure that everything is as good as it can possibly be. However, the book isn't just about Bodacious, although his magnificence shines through on every well written page, it's also a love story to Black Sheep Farm and to the shepherd, Suzanna, who cares so deeply for the land, its soil and its ancient footprint on the landscape.

[Erin Kernohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally speaking I’ve found that books that spring out of internet fame rarely live up to expectations. However, Crampton has done a really good job of writing a book that stands well on its own as a sort of modern-day All Things Great and Small. This is her memoir, told through Bodacious the Shepherd Cat, and takes us through the four seasons of life on Black Sheep Farm. It’s filled with interesting stories of farming life, reminisces of Crampton’s journey to becoming a farmer, and stories about the various creatures who call the farm home, all told from the point of view of Bodacious - a relative newcomer and city-cat-turned-country-cat. With Bodacious’ voice always in the forefront, Crampton is allowed to be self-deprecating, and put forward a genuine humility that memoir as a genre is usually unable to provide. If you’re looking for an easy reading pastoral with a humorous and poetic touch, you’ll enjoy this book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In February 2019, halfway through reading this book, we received the news that Bodacious had passed away. He was an incredible and much loved cat and his book is the best animal inspired book I’ve ever read. His owner and the author of this book is a female farmer in Ireland and her stories are just as interesting as Bodacious’. What a fascinating life they have both led! I’ve always loved agriculture and now I feel even more amazed at what farmers can do. Although I had a heavy heart reading it knowing he was gone, his memory will live on and I urge everyone to familiarise themselves with such a wonderful cat. I look forward to hearing the Puddlemaker’s side of the story in Suzanna’s next book.

[Hege · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely tale from the Irish countryside.

[Aidy Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me knows how much I adore cats, so when Harper Collins offered me a copy of the non-fiction, Bodacious The Shepherd Cat, I just couldn’t say no. Bodacious is a real cat from Kilkenny in Ireland. Bodacious was straying for a while until one day he wondered into a toilet seat shop. The shop owner already had three dogs so it was impossible to keep him however tried everything conceivable to track down his human, but unfortunately no one ever came forward. Luckily for Bodacious another human known in the book only as “The Shepherd” heard about the handsome stray cat who was hanging around the shop and decided to adopt him, and took him home to Black Sheep Farm. Settled in at the farm Bodacious spends his time with his dog friends Pepper, Bear and Big Fellow, and his fellow cat buddies Miss Marley and Ovenmitt.

Told from Bodacious’ point of view, the book is filled with funny, heart-warming and uplifting tales of his adventures on the farm. There are an abundance of pages of beautiful glossy photographs, showing all of the farm animals and Bodacious himself. As you can see from the picture, Bodacious is a stunning wee fella, I’m not sure what breed he is, if he is a Maine Coon (he certainly has the personality of a Maine Coon) or a Norwegian Forest Cat, but Bodacious graciously self defines as a Kilkenny Cat.

Bodacious The Shepherd Cat is a quick, fun read (I managed it in one sitting) that will warm even the coldest of hearts and is a must for all animal lovers.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was, as promised, written from the viewpoint of the cat, Bodacious. Although there were some portions which were very much from Bodacious' experiences around the farm, in the main it was the story of his owner he calls The Shepherd. The Shepherd was in fact interesting to read of, however, my own interest was in Bodacious himself so I would have appreciated more focus on him rather than The Shepherd. Having never visited Ireland the descriptions of the landscape were appealing . Happily, as many such books end in the passing of the dog or cat, this was not the case here although regrettably I believe this did happen in February, 2019.

[Tim Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of life on a small Irish farm, told from a cat's point of view.

[Jenny Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suzanna (aka The Shepherd) lives on a farm in Ireland, tending her flock of rare-breed sheep and looking after her menagerie of rescued cats and dogs. One of these is Bodacious, a long-term resident of the farm and self-appointed “Top Cat”. The book is written from the perspective of Bodacious and takes a behind-the-scenes look at a typical year on a sheep farm, interspersed with reminiscences from the past.

Firstly, the positives. Although I found the writing a little stilted at the beginning it settled down after a while and became a more comfortable read. Once it got going I enjoyed the descriptions of everyday life on a farm, learning about the trials, tribulations, joys, pleasures and hardships that accompany Suzanna on her rounds of the farm and found the descriptions of farming techniques interesting. There were moments where the author gave some quite clever insights into the way a cat might view everyday human life on a farm but sadly these were few and far between - I wanted the book to be full of them. Oh, and I learnt what bodacious meant – that has to be a plus point.

However, I’m afraid this book didn’t really capture my imagination. It wasn’t a preconceived notion as I really expected to enjoy it but I was sadly disappointed.
The main issue was that I found the whole Bodacious thing completely pointless. The vast majority of the book consisted of the narrator, Bodacious, stating something along the lines of “The Shepherd once told me that….” and then telling the Shepherd’s story. I genuinely did not understand why she couldn’t just tell her own story. It would have been much easier to read and, as far as I am concerned, much less annoying. And then we come to Bodacious himself. He was an extremely arrogant and irritating character and I found the farm’s canine population much more endearing, although they only played a minor role in the book. On the whole I also found the descriptions rather too florid, with so much detail that it seemed almost artificial. Finally, there was a lot of repetition. On a number of occasions exactly the same thing would be written on two consecutive pages and I think this could have been solved by some more brutal editing.

I suspect I would have enjoyed this book more if I had been following the Twitter accounts of life on the farm prior to reading it. Given that that wasn’t the case I’m afraid my rating was more like 2.5 stars than 3 and I probably won’t be rushing out to buy a sequel. Just not for me – sorry Suzanna, you can’t win ‘em all.

[Il salotto del gatto libraio Graziano · Rating 3 out of 5]

RECENSIONE COMPLETA SUL BLOG IL SALOTTO DEL GATTO LIBRAIO
https://ilsalottodelgattolibraio.blog...

Questa storia molto particolare, a tratti lenta e noiosa, in altri commovente e strappalacrime, inizia quando Jaszia, la fioraia da cui si era recata la "Pastorella", la nostra autrice, Suzanna Crampton, gli propone di andare a dare un'occhiata all'insolito gatto che da un po' di giorni si era rifuggiato nei pressi del negozio di copriwater all'ultima moda.

Come sono solita dire "niente è per caso" e da quel preciso momento, Bodacious, così chiamato proprio per indicarne l'audacia e regalità, diventerà a tutti gli effetti un abitante/lavoratore della fattoria Pecora Nera, il gatto pastore.
Bodacious, maestoso, intelligente, astuto e caparbio, diventa fin da subito il vero sovrano della fattoria. Attraverso l'accurato punto di vista di Badaciuos, avremo quindi la possibilità di sperimentare la vita di un gatto, e che gatto, all'interno di un'azienda agricola: splendide albe, ovaiole, lavoro duro, imprevisti, nascite, animali singolari, cibo delizioso e un paesaggio idilliaco.


Al fianco della Pastorella anche due gatti, quattro cani e tutti gli animali da fattoria ma sarà solo Badacious, a mostrarci le bellezze ma anche le fatiche di chi ha scelto questo stile di vita.

Suzanna Crampton ci regala un memoir tenero, divertente e simpatico dedicato al suo super gattone, diventato famoso soprattutto per aver salvato un ovino dall'ipotermia.
È un libro diviso in quattro parti, le quattro stagioni: primavera, estate, autunno, inverno, proprio ad indicare che se sei un allevatore e un agricoltore, si lavora in qualsiasi periodo dell'anno.

Attraverso Badacious apprenderemo ogni storia, quella riguardante i trovatelli della casa, i lavori svolti, gli incidenti, le problematiche ecc.
E forse, devo dire che è stato proprio questo lato un po' prolisso e ripetitivo a farmi ogni tanto spalancare la bocca in uno sbadiglio.
Fortunatamente l'ho trovato anche abbastanza divertente e commovente, sopratutto le parti relative al finale che mi hanno toccato così nel profondo da farmi scendere qualche lacrima.

Come tutti i gatti, Bodacious ha scelto di condividere la sua vita con la "Pastorella", di immolarsi, nonostante la sua piena libertà, per la sua umana.
Salutarlo è stato veramente triste in fondo, ci eravamo affezionati alle sue avventure.

[nik · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5]

i feel tricked, but not necessarily in a bad way.

i found the book (the german translation) in a public bookcase and was immediately interested in this cat and what made him so special.
when i realised that the book is mostly a biography of suzanna crampton told "through the eyes of her cat", i lost interest for a while, but i have to say that i'm now happy that i finished the book.
because i know i wouldn't have picked it up if it weren't for mr. b, i feel thankful to have been tricked this way.
i learned a lot about sheep and life on a farm, and find suzanna to be a very interesting person i would very much like to meet one day, if i ever happen to stumble across the black sheep farm while visiting ireland.

i understand that neither mr. b, nor suzanna crampton are experienced authors, but still, i gotta say that the book lacked structure. while i enjoyed it being sectioned into the different seasons which then also contained smaller chapters, within the chapters the stories would get mixed up and i found it hard to follow some trains of thought.

additionally, i was jumped by the mention of mr. b's death? i literally cried on the train when i read that.
although the book mostly told the story of ms. crampton and her farm and relationship to animals, i felt like i got to know mr. b at least a little, and so i was devastated to find out he's dead.

in the end, i mostly enjoyed the read, even while not agreeing with some of the content and wordings in there or while rolling my eyes at how obviously this was written by a human pretending to be their cat telling the story of their human.

[LadyMuffinchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein streunender Kater wird zum Hüter einer Schafherde und erlebt was es heißt Landwirt zu sein. Mr. B erzählt vom Alltag seiner Schäferin und wie er es schafft zum Chef des Hofs zu werden.


Mr. B hat eine charmante, kluge und auch humorvolle Art und Weise. Der Schreibstil war angemessen flüssig und durchaus gut zu lesen. Die kätzischen Gedanken waren typisch Katze und haben mir in der Umsetzung gut gefallen, zumindest, bis zu den äußerst weitreichenden Erklärungen über Landwirtschaft.

Grundsätzlich ist der Klappentext nicht ganz falsch. Allerdings habe ich einen Roman über Mr. B erwartet, welcher uns mehr in seine Welt und den Schäferalltag aus seinen Augen beschreibt. Leider war dem nicht so. Es wurde mehr auf die Schäferin an sich eingegangen und auch der Kater kam einfach viel zu kurz. Stellenweise hatte ich das Gefühl im Erdkunde Leistungskurs zu sein mit dem Schwerpunkt Agrarwissenschaften. Seitenlange Beschreibungen von Bodenmineralien für die perfekten Werte zum Anbau von Kräutern für die Schafe ist nicht so ganz das, was ich zu lesen gehofft habe 🙈

Das Buch liest sich schnell und es ist lehrreich, dennoch kam es mir mehr vor wie eine Dokumentation und nicht wie ein Roman über das Leben eines Hofkaters. Die Ausführungen über das Leben der Schäferin waren ganz nett, aber irgendwann dann auch etwas zu viel...


Meine Erwartungen wurden nicht erfüllt, aber ich kann das Buch agrarwissenschaftsbegeisterten Leuten empfehlen und auch jenen, die um die althergebrachten Werte und harte Arbeit zu schätzen wissen.

[Claire Swain · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Bodacious - The Shepherd Cat' by Suzanna Crampton
Genre: Memoir

About The Book: This Memoir is written from the perspective of Bodacious the cat. Bodacious tells you the story about him, Suzanna the Shephard and The Black Sheep Farm.

My Review: I have very mixed thoughts about this book. Bodacious is a very witty, humorous and likeable character. The way he tells you about the events of the farm and his fellow animals are lovely; a nice easy read. It is heart warming how the author shows such a connection between Bodacious and the Shephard. In addition, it is fastening to learn about what happens on the Irish farm and how Bodacious made the farm famous.
I also appreciate how the author has brought awareness of Dyslexia.

However, the approach of this book is based heavily on info dumps. Bodacious is telling you about the ins and the outs of the farm. He is not showing you the story. Which, makes the book slow and tedious at times.

Triggers - Animal Abuse before the animals were rescued.

This is an interesting memoir, however I did struggle to finish it. Nevertheless, I have huge rest for the hard work and love that Suzanna provides to the rescued animals.

Disclaimer: My Book Reviews are based on my own opinions and experiences only.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been following the Zwartbles farm and Cat Shepherd Twitter accounts for quite a while now, and this book fills out some of the back story of Suzanna and her lovely critter family. Written in the no-nonsense, yet still affectionate point of view of Bodacious, the shepherd cat, it is a lovely behind the scenes look at a year on the sheep farm, with all the joys and trials that go with this life.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a review of the seasons at Black Sheep farm in Ireland, it's growth and stories, as told by the head cat, Bodacious. The story is interspersed with 'tails' from The Shepherd's previous life as a potential actress, wildlife carer, cattle wrangler and general animal whisperer.
The Shepherd's work in building up the farm and developing ways of having the farm support her and her menagerie without overextending herself or the land on which we all rely..

[Warren Gossett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a cozy bed to lie the night on. You awaken to a friendly farm yard to breathe fresh morning life. With the animals, plants and soil of the good earth in this green misty Ireland. I am glad I spread out the time to read it. It refreshed each time I picked it up to read some pages over five months. The book itself covers a yearly cycle on a farm as told by Bodacious the cat and his human, the farmer, called The Shepherd.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. As it was meant to be written from the point of view of a cat, I thought it would have been more cleverly written...in just not convinced a cat would know some of the things it does such a recipes etc. There are times when it’s more ‘cat- like’ but it’s not consistent. Can also be repetitive in detail and sentence structure. Took me a long time to read as I kept turning to other books in the meantime. Learnt a lot about lambing though!

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This feels like a few popular instagram posts turned into a book. The cat parts are ok mostly but when the cat tells stories about the human it becomes dull. The 3rd person aspect is bad but the stories are mostly dull as well.

[Alaghom Naom Tzentel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly, I liked this less than I thought I would, and I can't even explain why. As much as I like cats and am interested in the shepherd's story, the tale told from the perspective of the cat just didn't appeal that much to me.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book of a year on a smallIrish sheep farm, told from the perspective of Bodacious, the cat shepherd. Beautiful and vivid descriptions.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, perfect summer reading even if I was told to hurry up and finish it in one day so the 9 year old could read it!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer animal stories told by a person verses the animal doing the talking. Spoiled by the books of J Herriot.

[Barbara Metcalf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book

I am a cat lover and enjoyed reading the adventures of Bodacious and his companions on his life on the farm

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book although I liked when she talked about the farm and animals more than when she talked about her life.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written from the view of the cat

[Paul Tokarski · Rating 3 out of 5]

It not really a story, more of a diary of the cat life in the farm. Guess what the egg-makers are? Counting sheep 🐑 by legs then divide by 4

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5 rating

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet read, but for someone who grew up around animals and farms there isn't anything surprising to be found in the narrative.