Maureen Carter &
We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida

Just the cutest book ever!! 🐱❤️

the idea of healing through companionship, especially from something as soft and warm as a cat, feels both whimsical and comforting for me. but i found most of the stories here to be quite repetitive. the emotional rhythm felt too similar from one piece to the next, and by the middle, i was struggling to stay interested. it wasn’t easy to push through, even though i genuinely wanted to enjoy it more.

still, i liked it, though i wish the execution had offered a bit more variation and depth.

This book is about a clinic of sorts that prescribes cats as medicine for your issues.

While I think the premise is fun and whimsical, I often felt myself feeling a little…dissatisfied with the resolutions of the issues. However, I don’t think that this book is at fault. I believe I find issues with the majority of the characters/patients to have semi-unlikable personalities, which is probably why they have problems. If you’re less skeptical of how much a cat can do for a person, then you probably wouldn’t find that to be an issue.

The reason I didn’t rate this higher though is because most of the stories kinda bleed together in the middle for me. The first, second to last, and last stories were the most memorable for me and that’s probably (again) related to the likability of the characters for me.

I listened to this as an audiobook and thought the different voices and the accents did a lot for the storytelling of this translated work. Generally, a great time. Cute tidbits about cats reflecting their owners or environments while still having their personalities. I don’t think I’ve been converted to a cat person though.

whimisical and silly and a very light, easy but enjoyable and captivating read! excited for the sequel

I can’t stop reading this book! This is what they call animal-assisted therapy。

Like most Japanese novels I've read, We'll Prescribe You a Cat was heartwarming and simple, introducing us to a range of characters and the beauty of being human (and flawed). While I really enjoyed reading this book and the translation felt seamless, I struggled to get into it and found myself putting it down for long periods of time, only picking it back up for a few chapters here and there between other books.

Nevertheless, the characters and their stories are charming, so if you're looking for a simple story that won't ask anything of you, this is it.