Name: The Guest Cat
Rating: 3.593137254901961 (51 reviews)
ISBN: 9780811221504

Takashi Hiraide

Eric Selland

A young couple working as editors from their home in a quiet part of Tokyo begin to see things differently when a lovely cat enters their lives uninvited.

The Guest Cat

An easy read but rich in descriptive passages and emotional build-up, from discovering new feelings to mourning them. Although the pace was slow and there was no plot and no trajectory that this story followed, I enjoyed reading it. 

Nina Alexandra Bacrau

Deepika Ramesh

The green-eyed cat on the cover misleads the reader. It’s not a book on how cute a cat is, and how it changes a couple’s life. The Guest Cat by the Japanese writer Takashi Hiraide is something beyond that. It touches everything that one experiences, when one tries hard to cope with change and loss.

The nameless narrator and his wife live in a spacious guest house, and are visited by the neighbour’s cat — Chibi. The feline, the writer says, has two personalities — the one that she exhibits to her owners, and her natural self that she displays in the company of the writer and his wife. While the narrator’s wife has an innate love for animals, befriending a cat is an acquired taste for the narrator. As their friendship strengthens, Chibi dies in a mysterious manner. The narrator doesn’t investigate the cause of Chibi’s death. It’s not that kind of book. The Guest Cat deals with how the couple meets the void created by Chibi, who never quite belonged to them.

My heart sinks when I put myself in the couple’s place. Chibi visits them everyday, wolfs down the delicious food offered to her, and sleeps in the closet that the couple meticulously arranges just to make Chibi comfortable. She plays with the narrator’s wife, and every activity they all do together is artfully articulated. But, after she passes away, they don’t see a closure of their relationship, as Chibi’s owner refuses to allow them to visit her grave. Heartbreaking!

The Guest Cat is profound, brilliantly subtle, and its prose is lyrical. I took a while to dive in, but I lost myself in it, when the narrator began explaining the beauty of their garden, the insects, and the cat — none of it belonged to the couple, the heart-rending irony. Above all, the narrator's commentary on change and loss is moving. 

Some favourite passages here:

Having played to her heart’s content, Chibi would come inside and rest for a while. When she began to sleep on the sofa — like a talisman curled gently in the shape of a comma and dug up from a prehistoric archaeological site — a deep sense of happiness arrived, as if the house itself had dreamed this scene.

I wonder where it all comes from — this need to go to the place where the body has been laid to rest. It’s the need to reconfirm how precious someone was and how irreplaceable, and the desire to reconnect with them on a different plane.

There was no doubt that Big Sister looked like Chibi. But not matter how hard you looked — on earth or in heaven — there was no cat as otherworldly and mysterious as Chibi.

All I want to know what happened — I want to somehow grasp every detail of the events of that day, that one day like a tiny dewdrop… but now it’s all engulfed in the profound darkness of time.

renni

Vou analisar em três categorias: história, ritmo e livro de gato.

1. História: é do gênero "nada acontece mas tudo acontece nesse pequeno mundo que chamamos de Livro". É uma história mundana que passa mais tempo descrevendo casas e bairro e vizinhos do que coisas realmente acontecendo. O que está acontecendo é a vida do casal mudando enquanto a vida da gata dos vizinhos muda. É lindo o relacionamento deles com a gatinha. Literalmente a coisa mais genuína do mundo. A parte que a esposa e a gatinha brigam é tão fofa e triste. Enfim, me senti como uma amiga lendo. 4,5/5

2. Ritmo: é fácil engatar porque o título intriga mas quando começa a descrever demais o Lighting Alley eu comecei a me perder. Mas é um ritmo bom sim, o autor sabe onde pesar e não pesar. 4/5

3. Livro de Gato: creio que esse se tornou um dos meus gêneros favoritos de leitura e já li o suficiente pra dizer que esse leva 5/5 no papel de história de gato. Chibi realmente foi uma personagem muito intrigante e como os personagens falavam dela me deu a sensação que eu também já a conheci (mas não tão bem quanto eles).

Em geral, livro muito bom e fofo. 4,5/5

Matthew Royal

Very traditional sort of atmospheric impressionism you see in a lot of Japanese art. Very sensitive and a good read. Thanks to my boyfriend Parry for giving me this book!

Cams Campbell

I saw this on the table in Waterstone's and the cover drew my attention. 'What the heck', I thought, 'it's only a short book'. So I bought it and read half of it in the queue for the ferry. It's one of those books that I think I'll have to ruminate over for a day or two, but I suspect the beauty of its prose will remain in my mind for days to come. Such a clever little story that's more about setting a mood than revealing a plot. The language is poetic and full of imagery. And I, not even a cat lover, really quite enjoyed it!

Mario Menti 

Renee Delcourt

Dani

** spoiler alert **
           Definitivamente los autores japoneses (que fui leyendo hasta ahora) no son lo mío, y lo intenté, pero son demasiado descriptivos para mi gusto, y eso que me encanta El Señor de los Anillos. 
Además en este libro me prometían gatos, y sólo lo mencionan el mínimo y el resto es la depresión de los personajes.
Felicito a los que gusten de este tipo de literatura.

The Guest Cat

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