CHEWED

Our favourite cats and dogs all need a special friend they can batter to bits, and the brilliant concept for this volume is to photograph a collection of dismembered toys and match some of them with a commentary from their owners - the savage canines and felines who show their love by inflicting maximum injury. An aggrieved black and white toy glares out of the picture and tells the story of how he was rescued from a plastic bin in an all-night mart by none other than his hero, Frank Sinatra himself. Frank came in with his girlfriend for a bottle of Jack Daniels and in no time at all our furry friend was in the limo heading for the concert. But he never got to hear his idol sing, because the inebriated Frank seized him and started to chew on his fur, and the bodyguard threw him out of the car. A cute legless bear warns "Never get divorced in California". When Johnny ran off with Lila to Vegas, everything went fine at first and their bear Lucky went everywhere with them. When Lila got her break in a reality show, though, Johnny was unable to handle the disparity and took it out on the bear, insisting the injuries had been inflicted by their dog, though as the bear got to stay with the now-rich partner he wasn't complaining too much. Polyphemus, a melancholy long-eared toy with a gaping hole where his eyes should be, laments the fact that his master Odysseus, the author of his wound, gets star billing from literary types like Homer or James Joyce. Rabbits, gonks, a battered Ernie from Sesame Street all lament their fates. No page numbers, 130 colour photos. Softback.
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