Helpful Score: 1
I totally get Nikki Moustaki and her crazy obsessive love for pets. When I was a college sophomore, I found a young cat in a Baton Rouge field, and that cat traveled with me through life for 20 years. A lot of happy and sad things happened during those two decades and my cat was there for all of them. The story of Nikki's early years (through age 24) is told through the lens of her pets' lives - mostly birds - with a special emphasis on the illuminating relationship she had with her grandfather, another lover of birds. Through that lens, Nikki shares her passions, insecurities, disappointments, accomplishments, and struggles with alcohol addiction. In the final chapters, Nikki's recounting of her trip to Paris as a single 24-year old woman is an extra-special treat for the reader. This is a beautifully written coming-of-age memoir. I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.