Overview

From ""a genuine American Dostoevsky"" (The Washington Post): a dazzling, funny, bittersweet exploration of the mysteries of relationship, both human and animal. When his favorite cat Biscuit goes missing, Peter Trachtenberg sets out to find her. The journey takes him 700 miles and many years into his past-- into the history of his relationships with cats and the history of his relationship with his wife F., who may herself be on the verge of disappearing. What ensues is a work that recalls travel narratives from The Incredible Journey to W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn. Trachtenberg ponders the mysteries of feline intelligence (why do cats score worse on some tests than pigeons?), the origins of their domestication, their terrible treatment during the Middle Ages. He also looks at the riddle of why any of us loves whom we love and all the unforeseen places to which that devotion leads us.

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Reviews

"""Another Insane Devotion is a discursive essay on personal growth, a public exercise in private exorcism, and a collection of notes toward a philosophy of love."" -- ""Slate"" ""Another Insane Devotion--about love, sex, marriage and especially cats--is a hallmark of brainy discursiveness."" -- ""New York Times Style"" ""[A] deeply philosophical, highly readable memoir...This book is like no other, and a very good one."" -- ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"" ""[A] meditation on the meaning(s) of love...Trachtenberg's lyric writing keeps the reader interested...making for a memoir that reads like a compelling work of fiction."" -- ""Booklist"" ""[A] wide-ranging memoir."" -- ""More"" ""[Trachtenberg] writes eloquently, insightfully, and often humorously."" -- ""Tampa Bay Times"" ""A fine memoir...Powerful and evocative...This may begin in the pet section but its message moves far beyond."" -- ""Midwest Book Review"" ""Absolutely riveting."" -- ""Eileen Myles, author of Cool for You and Inferno"" ""Not many things are better than a kitten, but a book like this comes close."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""Peter Trachtenberg is such a wonderful writer, and this book is so damn good."" -- ""Nick Flynn, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City"" ""The season's most eccentric book...You'll have many smiles and a few tears while reading...The book, in all its richness and humor, ...tells us about loving a cat, loving a human being, and where those loves can take us."" -- ""Hudson Valley News"" ""This is surely the best book written about what it means to love cats, and to wonder if they love you, since Carl Van Vechten's The Tiger in the House."" -- ""Chicago Tribune"" ""Trachtenberg's journey proves entertaining and enlightening."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"""

""Another Insane Devotion is a discursive essay on personal growth, a public exercise in private exorcism, and a collection of notes toward a philosophy of love."" -- ""Slate"" ""Another Insane Devotion--about love, sex, marriage and especially cats--is a hallmark of brainy discursiveness."" -- ""New York Times Style"" ""[A] deeply philosophical, highly readable memoir...This book is like no other, and a very good one."" -- ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"" ""[A] meditation on the meaning(s) of love...Trachtenberg's lyric writing keeps the reader interested...making for a memoir that reads like a compelling work of fiction."" -- ""Booklist"" ""[A] wide-ranging memoir."" -- ""More"" ""[Trachtenberg] writes eloquently, insightfully, and often humorously."" -- ""Tampa Bay Times"" ""A fine memoir...Powerful and evocative...This may begin in the pet section but its message moves far beyond."" -- ""Midwest Book Review"" ""Absolutely riveting."" -- ""Eileen Myles, author of Cool for You and Inferno"" ""Not many things are better than a kitten, but a book like this comes close."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""Peter Trachtenberg is such a wonderful writer, and this book is so damn good."" -- ""Nick Flynn, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City"" ""The season's most eccentric book...You'll have many smiles and a few tears while reading...The book, in all its richness and humor, ...tells us about loving a cat, loving a human being, and where those loves can take us."" -- ""Hudson Valley News"" ""This is surely the best book written about what it means to love cats, and to wonder if they love you, since Carl Van Vechten's The Tiger in the House."" -- ""Chicago Tribune"" ""Trachtenberg's journey proves entertaining and enlightening."" -- ""Publishers Weekly""

Author Information

Peter Trachtenberg is the author of the memoir 7 Tattoos and The Book of Calamaties: Five Questions About Suffering and Its Meaning. His writing has been published in the New Yorker, Harper's, BOMB, TriQuarterly, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among many others. His commentaries have been broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered. The recipient of a Whiting Writers Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Trachtenburg was also honored for The Book of Calamities, for which he received the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. Joe Geoffrey is a voice-over actor and audiobook narrator. His book readings include Jeremy Goldman's Going Social, Maneet Ahuja's The Alpha Masters, and Peter Trachtenberg's Another Insane Devotion, among many others.

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