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BEETHOVEN'S CAT by Elisabet McHugh

BEETHOVEN'S CAT

By

Pub Date: April 1st, 1988
Publisher: Atheneum

McHugh has written several mildly entertaining stories about family life; here, she focuses on family pets, especially a fat cat who goes off the deep end when he discovers his resemblance to a famous composer's cat. Wiggie's owner, who is writing a dissertation on Beethoven, unearths the drawing, Wiggie has always had a high opinion of himself--but his self-estimation now reaches stratospheric levels. Assuming that he is a direct descendant, he calls himself Ludwig and wonders whether he's a reincarnation of his ancestor. He even loses his prodigious appetite, except for the fish that his presumed ancestor fancied. Efforts to procure a meal from a neighbor's fishbowl lead to an appointment with an animal shrink--for a reintroduction to reality. The delusioned-pet theme has been done more effectively in Howe's Bunnicula series. Poorly drawn characters--plus a predictable, ineffectively organized narrative--dissipate the humor here.