21st Century Yokel -Tom Cox

I first came across Tom Cox when a friend alerted me to one of his Twitter feeds - My Sad Cat. I had a black cat at the time called Puzzle and my friend saw some kind of similarity between them. although now I would say that Puzzle was a composite of both The Bear and Shipley, another black cat that Tom had at the time. Puzzle was an contemplative, potty mouth and could silence anyone with a look! But I followed the feed and immensely enjoyed the photos and captions. I remember showing my sister the feed whereupon she promptly found the My Sweary Cat and the My Smug Cat feeds too. Eventually I explored the whole Tom Cox internet concept more and more and found that I liked it! A lot.

I love Tom Cox and his books. I love the conversational style that can belie the truths contained within the words. I love his sincere realism and the sense of humour that runs through all his work. I love his honesty. Perhaps best known for his ‘cat’ books this latest offering is a genre defiant piece of writing that is joyous to read. To laugh, to think, to experience, to learn are not often found in one book. 

What I am puzzled about is why Tom had to turn to crowd funding to finance this work given the success of his other books? But he did and so Unbound was brought into my consciousness and, I am sure, the consciousness of many others. All to the good. I felt proud and, given the hours of enjoyment Mr. Cox’s online presence has afforded me, obliged almost to support this project. 

It might be possibly be requisite to have a love of the countryside to truly appreciate this book but maybe it could foster such a love in those without, certainly the easy style of writing makes it very readable and accessible. Existing lovers of Tom Cox’s work will be familiar with all of the cats and be happy to read about them. Full details of poor, sweet Roscoe cat’s dreadful encounter with a dog and subsequent recovery are well documented here as well. Tom's Dad also makes his PRESENCE FELT. But it's like someones taken words for a walk through meandering paths and countrysides revering all living things and seeing the synchronicity of life. 

The world needs people like Tom Cox. If there were more Tom Coxs I doubt the world would be in such a mess. Maybe by reading this book we can all get a little closer.