Becca Reviews: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

A great book for book lovers, particularly if you're into the 'why'. Why do we read, why do we choose books over films, why do we read about certain topics, why do we read about people who are like us and vice versa? Bonus points if you're also interested in the publishing industry, this book makes you question why publish certain stories over others, why some books are popular, why some books become classics, why some are read and re-read, why some burden the shelves of charity shops? (ehem, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown...)

If you're a lover of Japanese literature, specifically NOT the dark, murderous, generational trauma variety (or you just want a break from that), then this should be for you!

We meet the protagonist, Rintaro Natsuki, when his Grandfather has just passed away, leaving him in charge of a small second-hand bookstore. Rintaro is struggling with the process of grieving and coming to terms with leaving the bookshop to live with a distant aunt, all whilst a school friend hassles him to return to classes. So obviously what he also needs is a magical talking cat showing up in the bookshop and asking him to accompany said cat on adventures to save books. Can't a kid catch a break?

Rintaro faces various challenges against foes who are seemingly books haters, or more aptly, book disrespect-ers. I will say I found his success stories arose a little out of the blue, I'm all for the power of words but he barely seemed to say anything, or anything very profound, but perhaps I'm missing something. It does seem, that each challenge is less truly about saving books and more about Rintaro realising another lesson. (He does a lot of realising things throughout.) Each adversary, without giving too much away, already had 'their truth' within them, they also just had to be guided in order to ... realise things. (See, BIG theme of realising things.)

We follow the development of a sweet friendship between Rintaro and classmate Sayo. I enjoyed the minimal characters, instead focusing primarily on the character development of those we were introduced to. It is a testament to Natsukawa's writing and story telling that the most integral character, the Grandfather, did not actually appear in the story himself, only as memories, anecdotes, and lessons.

I think the conceit is that each challenge offers Rintaro a lesson and an opportunity to come to terms with the loss of his Grandfather and the grieving process. I don't think I can elaborate however, and perhaps I'm clutching at straws, but I can't see that Natsukawa would NOT have made the lessons linked to Rintaro's own inner turmoil.

As always with translated novels, I fear some of the meaning may have been lost, but also I feel that tends to make me give books the benefit of the doubt and assume it's prose was stronger in the original language whether it was or not. This definitely felt like a book for younger readers, younger even than Rintaro (high school age), especially as my version had fairly big text. The story was fast paces, nicely balance between sections, or labyrinths if you will, and offered tonnes of heart warming take aways that I will remember and bring up in conversation with fellow book lovers!

Read: 27/11/2024

Published: 05/02/2017

ISBN: 9780063095724

Price: £9.19 (GBP)