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The protagonist's memory and abilities to be alternately objective, sensitive, and analytical about her incarnations and experiences in an otherworld between lives give depth to this story of a person's extraordinary perceptions of her lives through many decades, despite gender and species differences. The protagonist has been a cat and continues to have a close connection to other felines. As a human, she was an upper-class woman in China prior to Mao's takeover, then, post-1949, a young man who had many of the qualities and traits of the first human life. Her current life is that of a professor and writer. The protagonist's memories include her development from an embryo to a fetus and to birth, as well as her life's ending and her spirit's time among ghosts in a place that seems undefined. In that realm, she feels that God is well beyond human understanding. Aspects of her lives influence one another at various times.
The author effectively broaches a subject that many readers are likely curious about. Stories of reincarnation and enlightenment regarding previous lives have been recorded by many people. For example, during his enlightenment, the Buddha is said to have seen the many lives that he had lived, including those of other species, which corresponds to the idea of living as a cat in the author's narrative. This work is well worth reading as it integrates literature, history, sociology, and much more about recent history and the present. Most important is the relating of some profound mysteries that have influenced not only the author's existence but, potentially, all lives. Fans of novels about reincarnation will likely find this book of interest.