This is a most delightful,charming book for both ailurophiles and bibliophiles.

Sosuke Natsukawa is a Japanese physician and novelist, born in Osaka Prefecture in 1978. He graduated from the Shinshu University Medical School and practices medicine at a hospital in the largely rural prefecture of Nagano. Deftly translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, who was born in the U.K. and lives in Japan, this is Natsukawa’s English-language debut and there is a plan to have the book translated into over twenty languages around the world.

THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS  is relatively small and light, divided into four sections (‘ labyrinths ‘) with a prologue and an epilogue.

The book is set just before Christmas, it is all about how books have power.

 

Some of it is rather sci-fi/fantasy in style especially with the sudden changes to each of the labyrinths. It is also a book about life, the meaning of life and questioning whether there is an afterlife, with a reference to ghosts in the prologue.

First up we are introduced to Rintaro Natsuki .His mother passed away before he began primary school and he ends up living with his grandfather who runs a bookshop.  When his grandfather passes , Rintaro is still in high school , Rintaro is a hikikomari— nerdy,  bookish, quite a loner, who finds contentment and significance in his grandfather’s much loved books.

References are made to some of the classic books on the store’s shelves, mostly by Western writers, that have shaped Rintaro’s life. After his grandfather’s funeral, it is expected that the bookshop will be closed for good and Rintaro will live with his rather bossy, but caring aunt.

Another major character is Sayo Yuzuki, Rintaro’s class captain from school, who drops in to deliver his homework as he is constantly missing classes for a time.She is musical, consistently enthusiastic , confident and assured. We see how their relationship develops. There is also Ryota Akiba, the brightest student in the senior year and captain of the basketball team .

Out of the blue in an unexpected flash of light, a talking tabby cat named Tiger appears – hints of Rum Tum Tugger and the Cheshire cat perhaps ? – to demand an unusual request- he needs Rintaro’s help in order to save ‘books that have been imprisoned’ ,destroyed and unloved .Few humans can see Tiger – Sayo is one of them.

We enter a parallel universe where mimosa trees have ‘cottony blossoms’ out of season, particles of light sparkle ‘like dancing water droplets’ and Rintaro must set free an apparently vocational reader’s undervalued books (57,622 read so far – none re-read for enjoyment ) which are trapped in locked cabinets, persuade the huffy director of the ‘Institute of Reading Research’ to stop cutting and abridging books – speed reading is not the answer! – and convince the president of the world’s number-one publishing company that maximizing sales should not be the World’s Best Books’ aim : books are not an expendable item but should be cherished.

Last but not least there is an urgent unexpected assignment Tiger has which Rintaro has to attempt alone – rescuing Sayo is the reason Rintaro has to encounter “the gap between idealism and reality” and somehow reestablish order .

Towards the end we ae also taught a lesson about compassion and empathy .

A beguiling story blending fantasy , young love, books, different dimensions and an uncommon feline .

ISBN: 9781529052107
ISBN-10: 1529052106
Audience: General
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 224
Published: 14th September 2021
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK
Country of Publication: AU
Dimensions (cm): 19.8 x 13.2 x 1.5
Weight (kg): 0.17
https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781529052107/