Book Review: The Rabbi's Cat

The Rabbi's Cat

by Joann Sfar

The Cat's Meow

Bad pun, I know, but perfectly apt for this wonderful book. "The Rabbi's Cat" is a graphic novel set in Algeria in the mid 1930s. A poor rabbi lives with his lovely daughter Zlabya and their precocious gray cat. In over 850 marvelously-varied panels, author Joann Sfar tells the story of the trio as they deal with the cosmic questions of life, love, God's existence and fickle human nature. The story shuttles between sun-baked traditional North Africa and rain-drenched, cosmopolitan Paris. Sfar's palette ranges from the reds, oranges and yellows of the rabbi's home country to the muted blues, greens and whites of the Moroccan night and of the Parisian day.

The book's characters are wonderful and complex. The old rabbi is kind, God-fearing and gentle, but fears being replaced by a more urban man who speaks French. His beautiful, young daughter, content to remain in her father's house, playing the piano and reading, also longs for love. The cat -- a cunning and shameless atheistic and opportunist -- gains speech, insists on being Bar Mitzvah and demands to learn the Kabala. He contends pointedly, if ignorantly, with the learned over theological questions -- all the while angling for a night on the prowl. There's also old and sinewy Malka of the Lions, striding manfully from the desert, toting an ancient rifle and accompanied by his faithful leonine companion. The book follows the characters through normal life events -- shopping, praying for the dead, washing dishes -- but touches on themes of death, hypocrisy, apostasy and man's relationship with a rather enigmatic and silent God. Using this humble cast, and in a medium not fully taken seriously by all, Sfar plumbs depths not normally plumbed by many serious works. Sfar's art is deceptively spare, but is always evocative and never dull. His message is one of optimism, delivered with humor and humanity.

If this book were a film, I would rate it PG-13 for a small amount of nudity and vulgarity, and for the adult themes it explores.