The rabbi and his cat live in 1930's Algeria, which was still under French dominion and had a different religious and ethnic demographic than it does today. While many of the themes are independent of confession, religion is the underpinning of this story.
It is interesting when the cat beginst to speak outloud vs in his head. He is so intellectually complicated in a fashion that never turns him from a feline into a person in cat form. The cat is alternately stubborn, loyal, jealous, petty, and generous. He is intelligent without always being wise and sometimes he is wise enough to rue his intelligence. What else can you expect from a cat that starts to speak after eating the rabbi's annoying parakeet, but his first words are lies about eating the parakeet?
Cat loves his mistress but the rabbi does not want cat talking to his daughter and putting ideas in her head. We see they interact in their native Algeria and then travel to Paris to meet the rabbi's inlaws after his daughter marries a french rabbi.
It is a very interesting look at a specific time period and place. We see how Algeria is changing both with religion and attitutes. I really enjoyed this book.