it s a sequel and as such is both better and not so good as the original archy and mehitabel i felt that in this one mehitabel got a little too much air time saying the same old things which used to endear her to me i enjoyed her philosophy and still do yet the constant toujours gai toujours gai begins to grate for some reason i almost get the feeling that she becomes too wrapped up in herself comma too confident of her own existence the characters are no longer laughing at themselves yes that s it admittedly mehitabel never did do much laughing but here archy has given it up also and it depresses me there is more of archy s philosophy in this one which may or may not be a good thing more archy philosophy means less archy experience i yearn for more rollicking good stories such as those of pete the parrot freddy the rat warty bliggens the toad and the drunken hornet too much archy and mehitabel and not enough other characters i also object to the author himself continually interrupting archy should be allowed to speak for himself all right he only does it twice but still someone told me that don marquis is e e cummings under another name the style is right but i remain unsure and eternally grateful to the person who gave me the book as it is probably several decades out of print