{"id":48779,"date":"2021-11-08T11:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=48779"},"modified":"2021-11-04T09:11:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T13:11:57","slug":"the-cat-who-saved-books-by-sosuke-natsukawa-translated-by-louise-heal-kawai-in-shelf-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-cat-who-saved-books-by-sosuke-natsukawa-translated-by-louise-heal-kawai-in-shelf-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai [in Shelf Awareness]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cats have long appeared in Japanese fiction, especially popularized in I Am a Cat<\/em>\u00a0(1906) by the father of modern Japanese literature, Natsume S\u014dseki.\u00a0<\/em>Joining recent 21st-century mega-successes \u2013 The Travelling Cat Chronicles<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Hiro Arikawa,\u00a0If Cats Disappeared from the World\u00a0<\/em>by Genki Kawamura, for example \u2013 is the delightful The Cat Who Saved Books<\/em>\u00a0by Sosuke Natsukawa, a Japanese doctor who also writes global bestsellers. Louise Heal Kawai, who was born in the U.K. and lives in Japan, smoothly translates Natsukawa’s English-language debut.<\/p>\n

“The tale that follows is pretty outrageous,” the second sentence promises. Indeed, high school student Rintaro Natsuki, already an orphan, has now lost his beloved grandfather. Rintaro is a\u00a0hikikomori\u00a0\u2013 <\/em>a shut-in, only comfortable in grandpa’s secondhand bookstore \u2013 unable even to go to school. He’s supposed to be packing up in preparation for living with an aunt he barely knows. But over the 10 days before the moving van is scheduled to arrive, Rintaro will prove to himself that he is stronger than he ever thought, thanks to a talking ginger tabby cat named Tiger.<\/p>\n

“I need your help,” Tiger repeatedly insists to Rintaro. Presented with three labyrinthine challenges to solve, Rintaro must set free a career reader’s neglected books (57,622 finished thus far) imprisoned in locked cabinets, convince the director of the Institute of Reading Research to stop cutting and summarizing books, and persuade the president of the world’s number-one publishing company that maximizing sales should not be the World’s Best Books’ only goal. Every (unsuspecting) hero needs a sidekick, and Rintaro is reluctantly, albeit happily, surprised to get assistance from class president Sayo Yuzuki, “a strong, no-nonsense type” who’s been delivering Rintaro’s schoolwork as his absence continues. When Tiger returns an unexpected fourth time seeking aid, Sayo will be the reason Rintaro must confront “the gap between idealism and reality” and restore order \u2013 literally.<\/p>\n

Natsukawa’s empowering Bildungsroman enhanced as a fantasy adventure manages to be both whimsical and wise, revealing Rintaro’s superpower is imbedded in his love of books. What might at first seem like simple entertainment exposes a multi-layered analysis (with plenty of condemnation) of contemporary reading habits manipulated by a soulless publishing industry. Natsukawa’s one shortcoming here might be the glorification of the Western canon \u2013 only a single Dazai Osamu short story is mentioned \u2013 which seems ironic given that the world’s arguably first novel, The Tale of Genji<\/em>, originated in Japan in the 11th century, significantly before 17th-century\u00a0Don Quixote.<\/em> Nevertheless, what lingers longest for readers will be the everlasting resonance of great books.<\/p>\n

Shelf Talker<\/strong>:\u00a0In Sosuke Natsukawa’s charming English-language debut, a talking tabby shows a shut-in teen that his love of books is his superpower, as they undergo labyrinthine literary adventures.<\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>:\u00a0Shelf Awareness Pro<\/em>, November 4, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Young Adult, Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2017 (Japan), 2021 (United States)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cats have long appeared in Japanese fiction, especially popularized in I Am a Cat\u00a0(1906) by the father of modern Japanese literature, Natsume S\u014dseki.\u00a0Joining recent 21st-century mega-successes \u2013 The Travelling Cat Chronicles\u00a0by Hiro Arikawa,\u00a0If Cats Disappeared from the World\u00a0by Genki Kawamura, for example \u2013 is the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,76,6535,66,31],"tags":[32,6608,10010,75,10,11,135,51,7748,64,6872,9474,10009,35],"class_list":["post-48779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-fiction","category-japanese","category-repost","category-translation","category-young-adult-readers","tag-adventure","tag-bookdragon","tag-cat-who-saved-books","tag-death","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-grandparents","tag-identity","tag-louise-heal-kawai","tag-pets-animals","tag-shelf-awareness","tag-shelf-awareness-pro","tag-sosuke-natsukawa","tag-speculative-fantasy"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai [in Shelf Awareness] - 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