The Cat Who Saved Books – Sōsuke Natsukawa
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: [from the dustjacket] Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat named Tiger appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for — or rather, demands — the teenager’s help in saving books with him.
Expectation: A fun-filled adventure that celebrates reading and the human-animal bond.
Reality: A disjointed and heavy-handed mess.
Recommended For: Fans of Japanese fiction (although this isn’t the best example).
Why I Read It: Because of cats and books — two of my favorite things.
My Take:
When translated books miss the mark, I question if it’s the original work or a translation misstep. With Sōsuke Natsukawa’s love letter to books, I think the issues lie solely with the original text.
Call it a fable, a fantasy or a fairytale, regardless of the subgenre “The Cat Who Saved Books” is rather bizarre. I didn’t know what I was expecting — I picked this up solely because of the title — but it wasn’t this.
It starts promising enough with our main character, teenager Rintaro Natsuki, mourning the loss of his grandfather and guardian, who also owned a small bookshop. One afternoon a talking cat comes to him demanding help in saving books.
What follows is a heavy-handed morality tale that has a few interesting points for younger readers — such as learning compassion and standing up for what you believe — but if you think about the plot too long nothing makes sense.
First, to my dismay, the cat, Tiger, is barely a character. He’s written as a Willy Wonka-esque guide offering up vague riddles and taking Rintaro on “dangerous” quests, but he probably only gets about 20-pages in the spotlight. Based on the title and cover, I feel like Natsukawa sold a bag of goods.
Second, the labyrinth quests (a very loose definition) are just…strange. I won’t go into them here, but the stakes never felt very high and by the end I was completely disengaged in the story.
Credit should go to Kevin Shen for a narration that brought more enjoyment to the story than the text deserved. He portrayed both Rintaro and Tiger perfectly and changed his tone and inflection throughout the story as Rintaro grew confidence.
Still, a solid audiobook production is not enough to recommend this to others. If you’re interested in exploring cat-focused Japanese fiction, I’d instead recommend Hiro Arikawa’s gorgeous tear-jerker “The Travelling Cat Chronicles.”
Rating (story): 2/5 stars
Rating (narration): 4/5 stars
Formats: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: December 27, 2021 – January 1, 2022
Multi-tasking: Encouraged. I mostly exercised and organized holiday decorations while listening.
