I love Bryce's writing, he creates raw characters like no one else. This book however was not one of my favorites. I found the 'trim tales' boring and skipped the 2nd and 3rd ones, it just didn't connect with me.

I know this book was written 20 years ago, so I tried to judge it through the lens of someone who might not be as woke as we are today; but I couldn’t get past all the sexist and racist remarks. I only got a few chapters in, but in that time, Courtney called a woman a “Tart” for dressing in a way he thought slutty, he described a very shallow and stereotypical Greek character, and he used multiple racial slurs against our First Nations people. Even removing the “woke” lens, this book felt like nothing more than a boring stream of Courtney’s own thoughts and opinions which were all very ugly. The only thing he seemed to talk favourably about was the cat which he described at great detail as being “special” when really, anyone who owns a cat could recount the same stories for their own cat.
I didn’t finish the book and never will.

Another triumph by Bryce Courtney. I read this book on contract as a fly in/fly out nurse in rural Australia. As a registered nurse I understand well the withdrawal symptoms of alcohol addiction. And yet this book provided me with an intimate and more detailed person centered account of the delirium tremors. It is insightful and will enhance my future practice caring for alcoholics. The book has flawless plot, pace, and character development.
It is a story within a story. It doubles as a historical narrative of Matthew Flinder's circumnavigation of Australia seen through the eyes of Trim, the proud, intelligent and masterful ship's cat. Trim's story undergirds the tragic experiences and final redemption of a derelict, alcoholic man in downtown Sydney. The drunk and homeless ex-barrister eloquently faces his own demons through prose and externalises this narrative via the journey of the ship's cat. Surely, a noble and respected cat with fur as black and shiny as night.
Our alcoholic protagonist reluctantly embarks on a heroic mission to save an 11 year old streetkid from his heroin addicted mother. The boy is a victim of the ultimate humiliation and exploitation by a pedophile ring in Woolloomooloo, Sydney.
The story is set on a humble park bench in the Royal Botanic Gardens next to the State Library where the hopeless drunk collides with this unfortunate boy and together they forge a way together through the demon drink and the depravity of organized paedophilia rings. The 12 step program and Salvation Army feature strongly in this book as do Italian immigrants. Written with all the colour and diversity of a down town metropolitan city this book is a celebration of Australian history and the internal battles of human spirit.
Most of all as a registered nurse reading this saga and working in Australian settings I really connected with accounts of homelessness, addiction, child neglect and the adventure, exploration and discovery of a southern continent so grand and so vast.

Damn, I wish we had the option for half stars. This book, like so many of Bryce Courtenay's books, is overlong simply because he tries to teach his readers about so much, and there is, unfortunately, so much padding. Take away the padding and the overly-lengthy lessons, and it would be so much more enjoyable.

I enjoyed the storytelling - Humphrey Bower is a great narrator. Some parts did drag on a bit though. Opened my eyes a little to the world of adicts and child pornography. Not for the sensitive reader.

This book is (probably) well researched - at least, the author tells us it is. It provides (I assume) an accurate account of life as an addict or alcoholic, and the rehabilitation process. This is also (no doubt) an accurate rendering of the seedy underworld of paedophilia in Sydney. The problem is that, for much of the time, I felt that I was reading the research rather than the novel. Sometimes the prose sounds as though it is lifted directly from a text book, or a report on the subjects of addiction and paedophilia by a government authority. Some of the dialogue of the characters, likewise.

I never felt engaged by the characters. They never seemed to be in any real danger. There was little real conflict or tension. For the most part these were just words on a page. In the end, everything was resolved far too easily, and I wondered why I had to go through the previous 600 or so pages to get to that point.

And what, in the end, was the point of the story within a story--about Matthew Flinder's ship's cat Trim--anyway? It was only very tenuously, if at all, linked to main narrative. If it was meant to serve as a morality tale, the moral escapes me.

I have not read any of Courtenay's many other novels. If they are no better than this, one wonders why Penguin would publish them.

I've read most of Bryce Courtenay's books and have enjoyed them all. Courtenay tells a really good story. Although the central theme of the book focuses on a cat, I skipped through the stories related to the cat... really didn't do anything for the narrative.

For me this book was okay. Some parts were enjoyable to read--anything about Trim's adventures with Matthew Flinders, and I also liked that Billy decided his higher power would be Trim the cat (very adorable and hopeful), and I also enjoyed recognizing the Sydney setting, but overall.... eh. It felt like a 600-page author tract on alcoholism, homelessness, pedophilia, and bank clerks who are rude. There were also a handful of scenes that were so dramatic and played up that it completely shattered my suspension of disbelief (Ryan singing at the back of the chapel, for instance, or when everyone clapped after Billy went off at the rude bank clerk).
So yeah. It was okay.

Good book, learnt a lot about recovering alcoholism. Liked the Trim the cat story. Characters were believable and shows the murky world of King's Cross, Sydney.

Matthew Flinder’s Cat, by Bryce Courtenay, Narrated by Humphrey Bower, Produced by Bolinda Audio, Downloaded from audible.com.



As the publisher’s note begins: “This book is the story of a drunk, a boy and a cat.” Of course it’s much more than that. Billy was a well-known lawyer who went on the skids because of alcohol and finally was living on the street. Ryan is a young very bright child who was beautiful to look at and who had a wonderful singing voice. He was very street savvy because his mother was a heroin addict and he virtually had to take care of her. He met Billy, saw what a hangover he had and, knowing from his mother’s addiction what had to be done, he helped find him water and coffee and took him to the emergency room to have his sprained wrist seen to. Billy began making up stories for Ryan about Brim, Matthew Flinder’s cat, a ship cat who was with his captain until he died 200 years previously. Ryan was so entranced with these stories, partially true and partially made up, that it brought him closer to Billy. Then Ryan’s mother died of an overdose. Ryan was on the streets in trouble because he knew too much about the underworld his mother had been a part of. Billy had gone finally into treatment for alcoholism. But Billy removed himself from treatment and went to find Ryan to help him when he realized what trouble he was in. This is another of Courtenay’s warm inspiring stories. By helping ryan, Billy pulled himself out of the gutter. Wonderful book.

The subject matter gets darker and darker as the book progresses, respite comes from the digressions about Trim, explorer Matthew Flinders' cat. An insight into life as a homeless alcoholic with the backdrop of familiar places around Sydney.

This is another book that I pick up every few years, just to remind me how imperfect the world is. Its set close to home for me, and is one of the reasons I ended up going into working with vulnerable young people. While its not a career that I stuck with, this is the book that gave me the passion to help people. Forever a favourite.