Perzine, Five Seventeen, [email protected]
This is the story of the moods and moves of a cat called Maxwell. Beginning with his homecoming from the SPCA in 1984; continuing to his relocation to an apartment shared with his caretaker, the caretaker’s girlfriend and another cat; and finishing with Maxwell’s demise at the end of a long and comfortable life. In its 20 pages, the zine follows Maxwell and his caretaker through 18 years of his life and we are witness to the changes that come with growing up and growing old.
My recovering copywriter brain is screaming at me to tell you this zine needs a good once over by an eagle-eyed sentence tamer to smooth out the typos and repeated words, though it trusts the end-notes on the animal rights movement and the content of most commercial pet foods are as accurate and informative as they seem. The part of my brain that is not a grammar sheriff wants me to tell you the narrative is well-written, sincere, and ultimately moving, as the narrator soothes an old friend in his final moments. (Mary Green)