In the enchanting world of Karl Stevens' "Penny: A Graphic Memoir," I found a captivating journey that beckoned both cat lovers and those seeking a blend of whimsy and contemplation. Earning a thoughtful four-star rating, Penny's tale is a nuanced exploration of feline existence and the profound simplicity that lies within.

Penned through a collection of stories, the graphic memoir unravels the tapestry of Penny's life—a sardonic over-thinker with an existential flair. From her humble beginnings on New York's streets to the sanctuary of her apartment, readers traverse Penny's colorful imagination, revealing a cat's unique perspective on the world.

What sets "Penny" apart is its ability to seamlessly weave together the ordinary and the philosophical. Penny, with her penchant for ennui and angst, becomes more than a mere cat; she transforms into a vessel for deeper contemplation. Stevens' portrayal of Penny's struggles—juggling animal instincts, philosophical musings, and the lap of luxury in a human's abode—is both heartwarming and intellectually stimulating.

The graphic novel's illustrations deserve special mention. Stevens' artistic prowess breathes life into Penny's world with vivid colors and expressive details. The visuals not only enhance the narrative but also capture the nuances of Penny's character, making her relatable to both feline aficionados and those less familiar with the feline way.

Emotionally resonant and thematically rich, "Penny" succeeds in portraying the often-overlooked intricacies of a cat's life. The juxtaposition of Penny's dreams and the mundane aspects of her sheltered existence creates a delicate balance that adds depth to the narrative. While the graphic memoir may not appeal as strongly to those without a fondness for feline companions, it stands as a testament to the power of introspection within simplicity.

This is a delightful, emotionally charged exploration of a cat's musings and meanderings. For cat lovers and readers seeking a touch of whimsical profundity, Penny's journey is a charming and insightful companion.

Penny is a domestic cat saved from the streets. She has a lot of big thoughts for a cat to deal with. It is a slow-paced books and I admit bored me a few times but there were some funny parts. The beautiful art in this book is what kept me going. Penny isn’t sure about her mundane life but seems to deal with it well.

A great 'memoir' of a sweet cat named Penny. I enjoyed the parts that featured Penny's dreams, and the artwork was engaging.

This is a 3 1/2 star review. Four stars for the artwork and 3 for the story. Penny is a cat who was rescued or kidnapped and now lives inside an apartment. She sleeps a lot, dreams and thinks deep thoughts when awake. The story does get repetitive and of course not much happens. Like catnip a little Penny goes a long way. Cat lovers will enjoy the book.

Get inside the brain of a slightly pessimistic and very philosophical house cat who was rescued from the streets and see how she views her everyday occurrences.

Humorous by turns, and other times just kind of ho-hum. I found it somewhat surprising that Penny didn’t think she ruled the universe. This reads like a house cat is given a Russian philosopher’s voice about her life with little breaks in which she talks trash to her toys. Recommended to philosophical cat lovers. I don't think I'll be buying this for our school library partly because of the amount of swearing per pages and partly because I think the philosophy parts will go over most students' heads.

Notes on content: 14 minor to moderate swears and 1 strong swear. No sexual content. Cat on prey (mostly of the inanimate variety) violence, plus some cat bodily function gross out moments for her humans.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Penny is a domestic cat saved from the streets. She has a lot of big thoughts for a cat to deal with. It is a slow-paced books and I admit bored me a few times but there were some funny parts. The beautiful art in this book is what kept me going. Penny isn’t sure about her mundane life but seems to deal with it well.

In this fun graphic novel we are following Penny, the house cat. She explores how she got into her current living situation, which she calls a prison. And we also see her go about her day and experience several existential crises.

I thought it was so funny hearing Penny's thoughts about her sometimes monotonous life. The graphics were enjoyable and I think if you like cats, you will definitely enjoy this fun short read. However, it started to get a little slow in the middle of the book, because I felt like things were just getting restated. And I feel like this was more of a diary than a memoir which is what it’s being advertised as. I just needed a bit more plot to the story than just the musings of a cat. But if you know cats then getting to hear Penny’s thoughts will be pretty accurate and hilarious.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle books for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A charming look into the mind of one everyday cat named Penny through a collection of short comics. Many parts reminded me of my own cats so I enjoyed reading this. Her visions and dreams were a highlight -- maybe that is what they're seeing when they start running around!

This was a very well-illustrated book, with all of the images looking very realistic and lifelike. The story was very introspective and showed us what the mind of a cat might be like, particularly if that cat were having an existential crisis. At times the owner does not talk very nicely to her - not really cruelly, but somewhat unkind - and that made me sad, especially if the story is based on the life of a real cat. I did enjoy the book and thought it was good for reading a couple of pages, taking a break, and then coming back to it with fresh eyes. I will say that I am offering a trigger warning here for anyone who doesn't want to see gore as there are some graphic scenes, primarily involving birds.

Who has time for the existential crisis of a cat. Not me. Can’t get into this book the topic is boring and the illustrations don’t keep me interested. Apparently this book is not for me maybe for someone but not me.

Mixing existential ennui with cats seems like a match made in heaven, and the humor works (largely because of the juxtapositions between questioning reality and the meaning of existence and hunting birds and purring). But the joke isn't really enough to sustain an entire book. And when the author moves into longer stories it really isn't as interesting. Would work great as episodes in a magazine or webcomic, though.

This is a graphic memoir of Penny the Cat. Basically it is a bunch of short stories that follow Penny doing cat things. But we get to see what she is thinking. It does get a bit repetitive by the end but the art is so good that I didn't care. Penny is adorable and the book looks like a painting. It is like looking at my cats. A great edition for any cat lover.

I can never turn my back on a cat, dog rescue story, It wasn't the easiest read on my Kindle; the writing was so tiny! But I managed to get through it and am glad I did. Sweet story of Penny the cat finding her forever home! What an imagination PennI can never turn my back on a cat, dog rescue story, It wasn't the easiest read on my Kindle; the writing was so tiny! But I managed to get through it and am glad I did. Sweet story of Penny the cat finding her forever home! What an imagination Penny has! Love the illustrations! cay lovers will enjoy this graphic novel.y has! Love the illustrations! cay lovers will enjoy this graphic novel.

I received a Kindle arc from Edelweiss in exchange for a fair review when I couldn't get this story from Netgalley as a Kindle.

2.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Chronicle Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy op Penny.

The reason why I asked to read this comic before the publish date was the beautiful cover and the warm and sweet feeling I got from it. And I am obsessed with cats! I expected it to be a beautiful story about the life of Penny the cat. However what I got was a little different.
This review I have divided in pros and cons.

Pros
- The drawings are absolutely stunning. It’s a feast for the eye to read this comic. It’s so beautiful with amazing warm colours and a lot of detail. Penny looks absolutely cute and very realistic and still has an animation vibe to her.
- The character Penny is witty, smart and a cute character to follow. She does have some negative things to her character. I will get to that more in my cons.
- I have a stray cat myself and the story did feel relatable in at some points which I really enjoyed. There where some scenes that will look familiar to a cat owners which I liked.

Cons
- When you follow and animal it can often go two ways. The character stays true to itself or it becomes to human. In this comic it was definitely the second. Penny doesn’t really feel or act like a cat. She keeps having philosophical thoughts about life, her existence, her surroundings and her owners. She feels a little unreal for a cat.
She also seems a little depressed. She has a lot of sad and dark thoughts. This whole story is very gloom and if you are looking for a fun and light read this really isn’t it.
- The story is not really a story. It’s more a collection of short comics on each page. In each comic Penny asks a philosophical question and then tries to answer it or keeps thinking about that question before we move on to the next page and next question. It’s a little dull and progresses very slowly. It really took me some effort to finish this comic. The only reason why I finished it was the drawings which where very compelling and made me want to see more.
- They way she views her humans and her situation is a little cliché. She does not think much of her humans, she doesn’t see them as family or friends, but as something that gives her food and gives her some attention. She views her surrounding as an prison and does not really seem to enjoy life. She doesn’t really show any emotion and is more focussed on what her life is and should be. I have two cats and they always show emotion especially towards me as their owner. They always greet me, ask for attention, and they seemed to enjoy everything they have. I just disagree on how Penny is portrayed in this comic. I really believe cats have emotions and are responsive to their owners.

I was a little disappointed with the comic. It’s just looked so cute and sweet. After reading it I felt a little down and gloomy. Penny just doesn’t seem to love her life even though her humans try to give her a great life.

A hilarious collection of cat perspectives on life, which range from melodramatic ("if I weren't so bourgeois I'd get out of here...") to silly ("what would it be like to live without food?"). There are also quite a few psychedelic sections describing Penny's experiences when she's had too much catnip, which are humorous but don't seem to add much to the story's structure. Then again, there's not much structure in the first place, so perhaps it's best to regard the whole book as a collection of amusing, rambling vignettes.

This book’s appeal depends entirely on how much of a cat lover you are. The same joke is pretty much repeated over and over again: cat uses deeply philosophical reasoning to justify normal cat behavior. I personally thought it was hilarious, but I’m a cat lover sooo… The art style is similar to the effect you’d get if you took a photo and used the Photoshop poster filter on top of it. I personally find this kind of art bland, but it is technically well done and those that prefer realism might find it enjoyable.

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Penny is a house cat that does normal cat things while waxing poetry about her life and philosophical things.

The artwork is beautiful and entrancing! The writing is equally beautiful, while snarky at the same time.

This reminds me of Calvin & Hobbes in that Calvin will touch upon a particular philosophy only to end with a joke about bedtime or something. It's somewhat similar in that vein, though some of the philosophical stuff can be a bit difficult to understand it's nice to see a graphic novel touch upon complex aspects of life. I feel like "The Philosophical Musing of Penny" would have been a more accurate title, though.

Great book, definitely recommend for cat fans! (I don't even own a cat and I still enjoyed this!)

Penny, a graphic novel about the life and thoughts of a house cat. I am not surprised to find that Penny is as philosophical as Plato and spends what time is not used for sleeping or eating for existential musings over the meaning of her life.
While missing the wild, wilderness of her kitten-hood on the street, Penny is still a slave to the creature comforts that her humans have provided.
Karl Stevens validates my belief that catnip is simply weed for cats, and they get high off it, as well as my fear that my cats sleep on my chest at night because they are trying to decide if I will be tasty when they have to eat me if I die during the night.
Simply loved this graphic novel and Penny. Recommended for cat lovers and those who wonder what a cat is thinking when it spends an hour staring at a blank wall.

I received this proof free from Chronicle Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This graphic novel about a rescued cat named Penny in her “prison” apartment was just ok in my opinion. I am a self proclaimed crazy cat lady and found the pages where Penny described cat behavior such as trying to eat a pet bird and attacking the Christmas tree were very funny and relatable as a cat owner. However the parts where she lamented being in “prison” and questioning her existence were a bit on the tedious side. The artwork was well done.

**thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC I received**

I received an eARC from the author/publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

(Review will go live on my blog on April 12)

Penny is sort of a slice of life collection of comics from the perspective of the eponymous Penny, a black and red tabby.

The art is done in coloured pencil, and the style is on the photorealistic side, and though it took me a while to get used to, in the end I quite liked it.

Penny is an interesting cat. One moment she’s philosophinsing, and the next she’s distracted by scratches behind the ear. She’s vain, and fickle, and disdainful. And she’s completely self-aware. Honestly, the sub-heading for this graphic memoir could have been 'the existential musings of a cat.'

There were some really funny and relatable moments throughout the book. One of my faves was Penny's reaction to a storm on page 40. There were also some downright strange moments, such as Penny's various dreams and catnip-induced hallucinations.

I wasn’t a fan of the human characters - one (the female) was just there to randomly interject words that felt boring and inane, and the other (male) was downright nasty at times- threatening to find new ways to skin Penny, or calling her ‘genius’ in a condescending and sarcastic tone. As a cat lover that bothered me and did affect my enjoyment. I'm unsure if it was meant to be humorous or relatable, but it didn't land.

My only other small quibble is that the individual vignettes aren’t always clearly labelled. Since some were confined to a single page, and others unfolded over several pages, it was a bit jarring at times.

Overall, it was a slightly offbeat, but interesting way of looking at the world through a cat's eyes. I would recommend to cat lovers who enjoy trying to work out what on earth is their cat thinking.