The Book Report #67
Episode #66
The Cat Who Saved Books By Sosuke Natsukawa
The Book
Original title: Hon O Mamoroutosuru Neko No Hanashi, published by Shogakukan Inc. in 2017. They arranged for an English translation through Emily Publishing Company, Ltd and Casanovas & Lynch Literary Agency. The English translation was done by Louise Heal Kawai in 2021.
My copy is an eighth printing and was first published in 2022 by Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan. The book has a total of 220 pages and includes a translation note by the translator.
What Did I Think
Right off the bat, I should say this book was not written for me. As soon as I read the first chapter, I noticed that the solution to the situation was simple and childlike and a little basic. I did wonder who this book was written for. I was guessing maybe pre-teen. And after a web search, I found I was right. This book was written for ages 10 and up.
Rintaro is a child who lives with his Grandpa in a bookshop. That was until recently, when his Grandpa passed away. This story is set within the days of, I believe, just after the funeral.
Rintaro is dealing with the loss while at the same time getting ready to leave and move in with his aunt. He still has to go to school but has been skipping to stay and wallow in his grief in the shop, continuing to look after the shop like he and his Grandfather always would.
Then, all of a sudden, a cat appears, and we get no backstory of where it came from, but some past remembrance of a cat he used to know. Then this drama turns into a mild fantasy. The cat called himself Tiger, the Tabby. He takes Rintaro on some adventures to save books from being destroyed in some way.
The solutions to the problem seem to be: a memory of his Grandpa, speaking a quote to him, the love of books, and maybe a change of direction.
Help
The events themselves seem to be a way of showing the audience a way of not sliding away into yourself, but to embrace some, if not all, of the world around you for help and not to completely rely on yourself. Because sometimes being by yourself during a crisis of any kind can be a hard place to crawl out of.
Rintaro also gets help from a classmate named Sayo. Which, of course, leads to a possible coupling in the future. Sayo, for some reason, can, to the shock of Tiger. See the cat and join them on an adventure. The explanation as to why is weak.
The other problem I saw is how lax they were about the fact that they allowed Rintaro, who I think is no older than fifteen. He is allowed to continue to live by himself in the house and run the shop as well. By reading the story, the kid seems more than capable, but this is an extreme amount of responsibility for a young kid and the recent loss on top of that to have the world and a cat to expect so much from him. That is harsh.
I know it could be classed as character building and may work to a point. Even for young readers, it may help them bring themselves out a bit. Hell, it might have helped me when I was that age. But seriously, let the kid mourn and grow in his own time.
Would I Recommend
This is a tough one. Anyone older than, say, a young adult, this may not be for you. For what it is, it is a good story about growing strong and not allowing yourself to be lost to depression and hiding away from the world. At the same time, it may send the wrong message on how to deal with grief and healing.
Instead of dealing with the situations head-on, maybe let them have some time to heal from it, and if it gets to the point of being unhealthy, help them.
So, I am going to say maybe give this a go.
Would you like to purchase your very own copy?
You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA. Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/ USA, Barnes and Noble and eBay UK/ USA.
Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.
