The Fur Person
By the Book Ladies—Carol Jacobson and Caroline Dotson
Special to the Morning News

When May Sarton wrote “The Fur Person” in 1957, she surely could not have imagined that it would still be in print in 2007. “The Fur Person” is an enduring tale of a cat in search of a home.

As a very young kitten, when his ears are still against his head and his eyes are blue, he is adopted by a little boy named Alexander. Alexander feeds him with an eyedropper and the fur person sleeps across Alexander’s neck, and thus becomes known as Alexander’s Furpiece.

At six months of age, the fur person walks away from Alexander and begins his adventures as a tomcat about town where he is known as a Gentleman Cat. He is a fine, long tiger striped cat with a white tuxedo, white paws and just a bit of white on the end of his tail. He follows a strict set of rules for Gentleman Cats including such cautions as: When addressed, do not move a muscle and when frightened, look bored.

After two years of carousing about, learning about grocers, garbage cans, and the adventures of the night, he decides it is time to settle down and find a housekeeper. All cats know that housekeepers should be old maids, living in a small house with a garden and if possible an attic for fun and games and a cellar for hunting.

His first recruit turns out to be unsatisfactory in every way—she lives in an apartment, smells too sweet, and squeezes him too tight.

By wandering just a bit further from his old neighborhood than usual, he finds a pair of housekeepers—Quiet Voice and Brusque Voice—who respect all the rules for a gentleman cat. When he first meets them, they allow him privacy during his first meal and allow him to come and go as he wishes. After he establishes himself in the home, the gentle-voiced housekeeper names him Tom Jones.

The Fur Person begins to think of himself as Terrible Jones and continues to engage in street behavior. After a vicious fight with a nameless cat and a lengthy recovery from his wounds, the housekeepers take him to be altered, take him to become a Quaker cat, a cat of peace and the idea of fighting makes him quite anxious.

During the recovery from surgery, he begins to loose his beautiful cat hair and his sprit, but discovers that his housekeepers love him just the way he is and that is what makes him a fur person….a cat who is deeply loved by humans.

This is a very short book(106 pages) and can easily be read in an evening. Sarton describes feline behavior in an easily accessible manor; describing the cat’s routine including checking the window every morning to see who is about in the neighborhood, doing his yoga exercises, cleaning his tuxedo front and finding Gentle Voice’s lap when he is feeling down. The original pen and ink illustrations by David Canright add a visual element that does enhances the story.

Carol says: I love this book; anyone who has ever known a cat, ever loved one, must surely enjoy the adventures of such a personable creature.

Caroline says: Sarton is good at giving the cat human characteristics, and this could be compelling for a young reader. I want more plot, more climax, and to feel like I am part of the story.

The Fur Person by May Sarton, illustrated by David Canright, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1983. $10.00.

The Book Ladies can be reached at 824-5343.