Grandpa used to say it all the time: Books have power. But what is that power really?
Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books
For the next few book reviews you will keep hearing the airport story. I got a good stalk for a while to go on. After spending 2 hours on the road and almost the same amount to get through security and immigration. It’s a relief to come out into the lounge area and the first thing I head towards is book store. Scanning through the section of limited in numbers books in english. This one spoke to me immediately. It was waiting to tell a story about two of my favourites on this planet. Books and cat. 🙂 Curious about a mini review of other book with Cat stories? Who wouldn’t love The Cat Who Saved Books? I just finished reading it and can’t wait to tell what I thought about the book. Let’s dive right in!
About the author
I found very limited info about the author of The Cat Who Saved the Books. Sosuke Natsukawa is a doctor in Japan. Curiously, I found something very interesting. Even though Sosukee has written only three novels so far, two of them are about a cat and books. 🙂 His other novel is about medical records that sold over 1.5 million copies and has been adapted into a film in Japan. The Cat Who Saved Books is an international best seller. The original book is written in Japanese and translated by Louise Heal Kawai. Louise comes from Manchester UK and is currently residing in Japan.
A book that sits on a shelf is nothing but a bundle of paper. Unless it is opened, a book possessing great power or an epic story is a mere scrap of paper. But a book that has been cherished and loved, filled with human thoughts, has been endowed with a soul.
Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books
Star rating
3 stars
The plot
The Cat Who Saved Books is a story about a high school boy Rintaro Natsuki. He is devastated and alone after the death of his grandfather. He spends much of his time in his grandfather’s second hand book store that he always loved. Considering his grandfather passed away he needs to leave the shop and move in with his aunt.
Rintaro Natsuki is a hikikomori and a connoisseur of books. Hikikomori is a Japanese term that is difficult to translate in english. Literally translated it refers to people, often young men, who have consciously decided to shut themselves away from society, rarely venturing outside to school or work. Rintaro is forlorn and is waiting for the moving day. Until that day, he wants to spend as much time as possible in the shop and the books he loves.
To his disbelief he has a visitor, a tabby cat. Not just any cat. A talking cat named Tiger, who will change his life. Together with Tiger, Rintaro goes on multiple magical adventures. Tiger asks for help from Rintaro to save books from people who have imprisoned books or destroyed them. At first, Rintaro agrees reluctantly and apprehensively. Yet, with every new labyrinth and a new adventure, Rintaro transforms himself into a new person. A gallant young man with courage, care, compassion and clarity.
A cherished book will always have a soul. It will come to its reader’s aid in times of crisis.
Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books
What I loved about the book
1. Forgetting to sit still
Even though the target audience of this book is children in their pre teens or early teens, as an adult I quite enjoyed the magical adventures. It’s a perfect book if you want to spark the flame of reading in children. Sosuke has subtly and wittily shown the importance of reading earnestly. It’s becoming rare and rare in today’s age to take out time to read a proper work of literature. Somewhere in the era of streaming services, bite size videos, face timing, alexa and AI, we are losing touch with sitting still for longer periods of time. I remember my school days when I would sit for hours reading and forgetting about the world.
Today, we are surrounded by so many devises, it’s difficult to not be distracted. I’m not against technology and innovation. I also won’t go as far to say we ‘need’ all of this. I know we cannot and should not stop innovation. In the process though we shouldn’t forget the benefits of non-electronic ways of entertainment and education.
In the same way that music is made up of more than notes, books are more than just words.
Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books
2. Checking a box
Evidently, it was a pleasant surprise and a wonderful reminder to check ourselves when the activity of reading becomes a checklist. 🙂 Usually, to try to get back to or build the habit of reading, most of us are guilty of it becoming a check in the box activity. Whether it’s completing our target set for the year or looking better in the apps and groups we follow. Incidentally. I realised it about myself a couple of years ago, when to stay on top of my reading I set a target for the year. Next year I thought to increase the target and gradually I noticed I was getting worried about not meeting my target with getting less and less time to read.
I realised that i was losing the joy of reading and not enjoying the book as much. Hence, I decided I don’t care about the target. Why should I care if I want to read and re-read the books I love? I want to pick up a 1000 pager and a 20 pager. I reminded myself that I always picked books based on my instincts and discovered something unexpected and new in everyone of those books. Instead of a yearly target in some app, I now strive to read a few pages everyday. No one will kill me if I skip one day. 🙂 My focus is to enjoy the art, the story and enjoy the ride. 🙂
Books can give us knowledge, wisdom, values, a view of the world, and so much more. The joy of learning something you didn’t know before, and seeing things in a whole new way, is exciting.
Sosuke Natsukawa
3. Books are great, bookworms are not
I am a book lover. Anytime I imagine myself retired, I see myself surrounded by books and reading one after the other. In the story of Rintaro Natsuki though, a very good lesson to those who would love to stay lost in the world of books. It’s world of stories and books is wornderful, then again, It’s equally important to step out and live your life.
Books can’t live your life for you.
Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books
Final thoughts
As I mentioned before, even though the book is perfect for children, we adults can find plenty of reminders to take our time and fall in love with books again. I highly recommend The Cat Who Saved Books for people who used to read. 🙂 Pick up a book, a physical book, preferably a second hand one and sit down with a cup of tea and just be as lost as was Alice in her wonderland. Don’t forget to let me know how did it go in the comments down below.
Until next week. Ciao!
