Book Review
Title: The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Author: Hiro Arikawa
Translated from the Japanese by Philip
Gabriel
Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2019
Pages: 249
This book will touch the most tender core of your heart.
It is a love story with a difference: it is love between a man and his cat.
Right from page one to the last page, this novel gives the reader a feeling of
tenderness. Reading this novel is like sitting on the side of a beautiful mountain
brook and listening to the gurgling of water while feeling the gossamer caress
of the cool breeze on your body.
I bought this book precisely because
I have four pet cats who all have a special place each in my heart. If you love
cats, this book will keep you hooked. Even if you don’t have a soft corner for
those creatures, you will still love this book for the tenderness it makes you feel.
The author, Hiro Arikawa, is a cat-lover, obviously. 
Hiro Arikawa with her cat
Satoru Miyawaki is a young man who
takes care of a wounded cat that he found on the roadside. He names the cat
Nana whom he takes to a vet and then looks after until it gets well. Satoru and
Nana become the best of friends. They understand each other well, they respect
each other, and a unique bond develops between the two.
But for a mysterious reason (which
will be revealed towards the end of the novel), Satoru decides to part with
Nana. He goes from place to place, meeting friends who are willing to adopt
Nana. But both Nana and Satoru will find some excuse in each place for not
leaving Nana there. So Nana travels with Satoru. We meet some of Satoru’s
friends who are also quite gentle people. There are no villains in this book.
There are no vicious characters. There is only goodness. And it is the kind of
goodness we see in some simple people whose very nature is like a soothing
music that plays itself on the strings of our heart’s guitar.
Satoru had lost his parents to a car
accident when he was a boy. His mother’s sister looked after him. Now, unable
to leave Nana with anyone else, Satoru goes to that same aunt who agrees to
accept Nana too. Satoru and Nana will live in the aunt’s house.
But the climax of the novel has quite
a few twists which will turn the sweet melody into a melancholy song. The
strings of your heart’s guitar will experience painful tugs. It was hard to
suppress my tears as I read the final pages.
This is the kind of a book that
mellows your heart even if you are not a cat-lover. This is a sweet melody of
tenderness. But remember: ‘Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest
thought.'
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteSweetness to treasure, but the sounds of it! YAM xx
That's not a plot that you see every day.
ReplyDeleteRefreshing!
ReplyDeleteI love cats. Sounds like a good plot.
ReplyDeleteI guess any pet lover will love to read this kind of book. Thanks for informing.
ReplyDeleteI am not a pet lover as such but liked the way you have reviewed the book tenderly .
ReplyDeleteJust to share with you , over the past few days a cat has been wailing around my place , moving from one house to another .. seems she is desperately searching for her kittens .