TY - BOOK AU - Kelly,Chris TI - Downton Tabby SN - 9781476765938 AV - PN6231.C23 K454 2013 U1 - 818/.602 23 KW - Downton Abbey (Television program) KW - Parodies, imitations, etc KW - Cats KW - Humor N2 - A parody of the worldwide television phenomenon Downton Abbey, with cats. Downton Tabby is about England s oldest and finest family of cats in people clothes. With beautiful (and scandalous) photographs and art, it tells the story of their lives and loves and their maids and butlers and cooks lives and loves from the sinking of the Kitanic to the Jazz Age. Tolstoy s adage about each family being unhappy in their own way? What makes the Grimalkins different is they re cats. Posh, spoiled, stuck-up-but-charming, English cats. Okay, it s not just about cats and class warfare. It s also a parody of Downton Abbey, the phenomenally popular TV show where everyone s always getting dressed. Or they re already dressed, and they re getting more dressed. While it makes affectionate fun of Downton Abbey, it makes a broader humorous point: We treat our cats like high society. Their servants are us. If you live with a cat, the butler, maid, and cook is you. It s our cats world. We just lint-roll it. So it s for fans of the show, and people who put up with fans of the show, and also for people who ve ever caught themselves getting emotionally involved in their cat s social life, and whether or not some cold cuts would cheer her up. Why is this a book about Edwardian manor life, acted out by cats? The real question is why aren t there more? ER -