I've come to this book at a strange time in my life... My wife and I purchased this book after we had to put down one of our cats, hoping that we might find some comfort in it. We never got around to reading it. Less than two years later, we had to put down another cat, one we had a much stronger bond with. So now I'm getting around to reading this book.
Unfortunately, I'm reading this book at a time when I'm not sure what I believe about God or heaven or any form of afterlife. But I still gave it a chance to see if I could still find some comfort in its pages. The first few pages were difficult, not just because of the memories it brought back of my cats, but because of thoughts and feelings about death and a possible afterlife that I still needed to process and work through. After all that, things got easier.
The bottom line is, yes, I found some comfort. Maybe not as much as some other people may find, but I did. This book helped me see that the authors of the Hebrew Bible believed that all creation is good in God's eyes, including the animals. Many people have a very human-centric view of religion, and this book helps to remind us that all creation glorifies God. At least it does in the view of the Bible's authors.
The book also provides a fascinating look at St. Francis of Assisi, a figure I knew very little about (I was not raised in the Roman Catholic tradition). If I take anything from this book, it's an interest in this monk and a desire to learn more about him. If the legends are true, he embodied a love for man and all of creation that gives me hope for Christianity and humanity.
Despite all my praise, I have rated this book 3 stars to reflect where I personally stand in my relationship with Christianity, but it's certainly not without its merits. Friar Wintz has convinced me that if there's an afterlife, I will see my Bean and my Sunny again.