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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
A Brief Letter of Love and Grief to the Cat I’ve Lost by Michael Koehn is about the part of his life he shared with his beloved Snowflake. He talks about how the death of Snowflake altered his understanding of attachment and loss. Koehn traces a life shaped by deaths that felt distant and incomplete, then follows the bond that formed through ordinary days spent together at home. He describes how Snowflake’s presence became integrated into waking, working, resting, and sleeping, until her absence reorganized time itself. When illness enters their life, Koehn details the routines of care that defined their final months and the ways responsibility replaced assumption. Snowflake’s death in July 2025 is recognized through the interruption of habits that had anchored his days, and how grief emerged through the disappearance of those acts.
Michael Koehn’s A Brief Letter of Love and Grief to the Cat I've Lost is a really beautiful ode to Snowflake, the black cat whose name came from a patch of white fur on her chest. I love how Snowflake is described, as a playful girl who liked to drink water out of the tap, taking her meals on the countertop, and chatting with another cat through the window. She is sweet and loving, and a giver of pure joy. My heart breaks as this transitions to medication schedules and sounds mark time, culminating in a morning when the routine has ended. The writing is extremely heartfelt, and the inclusion of full-color photographs of Snowflake, including one of her enshrined pawprint, breathes visual life into a furbaby that already feels so real, even to a reader who did not know her. The pain of losing a pet often feels unbearable, but I am so glad that Koehn invited us into Snowflake's world and generously articulated grief that is usually beyond explanation. Recommended.
