In the few cases i am forced to use eval, i usually do something like this:

my $ok = 0;
eval {
    do_something_that_might_die();
    $ok = 1;
};
if(!$ok) {
    shout_at_user();
}
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This way, i don't have to deal with the error message. And in my personal opinion, it's much more readable. The downside, of course, is that Perl::Critic shouts at you - a lot.