Nala's World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride around the Globe
By: Dean Nicholson, Garry Jenkins / Narrated By: Angus King
Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
The 21st-century way to make a difference in the world: Save an animal? Social media!
Lemme tell ya how my Pandemic has been going:
I doomscroll when I get up in the morning; I panic and hyperventilate in the afternoon; I hit “The Dodo” in the evening to calm the heck down.
As luck would have it, “The Dodo” had just re-released the video of Scottish cycling-adventurer and world traveler, Dean Nicholson, biking through the world with a cat on his bike’s handlebars. I LOVED IT! And! As luck would have it, “The Dodo” said there was a book, Nala’s World, that had just been released that told the story of these two little soulmates (Wellllll, Nala is little… but I googled him and? Dean Nicholson is HUUUUUGE!!!)
Of COURSE I hit my Audible app and tossed a credit away for the audiobook posthaste!
This book oh soooo reminded me of A Streetcat Named Bob, and I guess that makes sense as Garry Jenkins helped James Bowen on that book just as he helps Dean with this one here. This one is like that one in that both James and Dean were kinda lost souls who wound up saving themselves when they saved their cats. Wonderful! I’ve been saved by many an animal so huzzah for us all!!!
Here, 30-year old Dean is pretty much just wasting his life by drinking gallons o’ booze and smoking plenty o’ weed all day long, all night long. He ain’t going anywhere, has nothing to believe in, doesn’t much try at anything. Then comes a mate’s idea to cycle the world. Dean is all for that: He wants to meet people, see places, learn how life really is. This is much to his family’s relief, as suddenly ‘twould appear Dean has a goal for his life.
The two start on their journey but soon part ways. And it’s whilst cycling in the mountains around Bosnia that he hears what sounds like a howling siren behind him. He looks back, and there’s a little bedraggled kitten, running after him, following him as he pedals along on his bike. Whatthe?!?
This big bear of a guy can’t help it. I mean, what’s he to do with a kitten that’s been abandoned in the mountains? He falls in love… like imMEDiately. Soon he’s smuggling her into countries, hoping she doesn’t wiggle or meow in his knapsack, but finding her veterinary care as he goes along as well. The kitten has weak lungs. The kitten is adorable. The kitten is Nala.
The kitten becomes Dean’s reason for living. Soon he has a responsibility greater than himself, and this whole book is about his adventures, yes. But it’s about how those adventures are bent and shaped around this little girl and her needs.
As becomes a 21st-century memoir of rescue, social media comes into play. Dean posts a few pics on his Instagram account which has a respectable 2,000 followers. Things pick up! Then he posts a video of how these two met, and things NATurally go viral. Soon “The Dodo” is knocking on his door, his video gets a gazillion (and six) hits, “The Washington Post” is calling him.
Dean now has a gazillion (and six) followers, and he has a new way to be a voice for change. I kinda squirmed when he first uses the word “influencer” in that it made me think of my sister’s loathing for The Last Sanctuary in Aleppo and how she felt social media was more important than the cats in that book (By the way, that’s not the way I saw it myself…). And I groaned loudly the more often he used it. But over my audible groans was the fact that, yes, the guy’s TOTally playing the social media game, but boy does he believe what he’s touting. He starts using his voice to highlight the plight of nature and the environment, posting of plastic on what should be pristine beaches.
And ‘twould appear that the man has a penchant for finding abandoned animals at Death’s Very Door. Sure he saves Nala, but he also saves a puppy, and it’s through social media that the puppy finds a forever home. And then he finds aNOTHer puppy… at Death’s Very Door, and no Dean can’t turn away from that pup either. Along the way he helps build a cattery and sips some booze with the crazy old cat lady. Along the way, he just helps, period.
I’ve never heard Angus King before, but he’s an enthusiastic reader and turns in a truly robust performance. You know me, I always start my audiobook listening at around x1.5 speed, but as soon as I heard that thick Scottish brogue, I knew I’d have to back it to x1.1 (Why not listen at x1?!? Because I’m just a poop that way…!). I was kept engaged throughout, even if I did have to struggle through some Gaelic shouting and whoops of joy here and there.
I know I’ve a good audiobook/story on my hands when I’m hitting Google for further info. And this time I was frantically searching to see if there’s a 2021 Nala Calendar around (Cuz the 2020 one was a hit). Yup, there is one.
And nope, ‘Tain’t available. Sold Out.
Well… maybe Nala’s further adventures will be written about again soon. After all Bob the cat has several of his own.
Nothing like a cat to save a person!
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