My Beloved Monster

The New York Times bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a linebacker—and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.

“The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history.” —People Magazine (Book of the Week)

Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior.   

For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests. When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb’s life-long study of the literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats, helped him decode much of Masha’s inner life. But their bond went far beyond academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests—a love story like no other.  

“Dares us to take a journey into love and pain … My Beloved Monster is a love story and a requiem.” —Wall Street Journal

“Excellent … Worth the emotional investment, and the tissues you will need by the end, to spend time with a writer and cat duo as extraordinary as Masha and Carr.” —Washington Post Book World

• “Devastating and beautiful, by turns a fascinating book of animal psychology and a personal memoir of unrelenting trauma, it dares us to take a journey into love and pain…This is a tale of time and mortality and the link we share with the constant flux of the natural world…Written in poetic, mournful, and delicate prose, My Beloved Monster is a love story and a requiem.”
  The Wall Street Journal
• “The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history.”
  People Magazine (Book of the Week)
• "Excellent…Worth the emotional investment, and the tissues you will need by the end, to spend time with a writer and cat duo as extraordinary as Masha and Carr.”
  Washington Post Book World
• “My Beloved Monster is a loving and lovely, lay-it-all-on-the-line explication of one man’s fierce attachment.”
  The New York Times
• “Carr writes about cats with a tender vividness that might make you see your own pets through new eyes."
  Los Angeles Times
• “Within pages of starting this moving book, connoisseurs of fine prose may find themselves gasping with delight, as will cat lovers…One of the most powerful and beautiful grief narratives ever written, including all the memoirs about people.”
  Kirkus Reviews
• “In writing that is as beautiful as it is unguarded, Caleb Carr tells the surprising and deeply affecting story of life with his remarkable cat Masha. It’s a book that will upend your assumptions about love, pain, commitment, cats, and probably the author himself. The whole experience, as a reader, is one I could not have imagined and roundly recommend.”
   
  Mary Roach, Author of FUZZ
• "Lively and moving....Even readers without their own furry friend will be moved."
  Publishers Weekly
• "A love story of the best, most ethereal kind...Tears will flow, and they will be warranted."
  Booklist