Sometimes the title of a book can tell you all you need to know for it to grab you. Think of Dickens’ Great Expectations, for example, or H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. (I’m sure that there are others.)
Whilst there are others whose titles deliberately obscure what you may be about to read, some pretty much tell you what to expect. This is one of those. The issue is usually then whether the book can live up to its potential. I’m so pleased that The Cat Who Saved Books does so.
From the publisher: “Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.
After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . .”
If that hasn’t grabbed your attention, this book is not for you. It involves bookshops and masses of books in piles and on shelves that appear to go on forever, the descriptions of which will make a bibliophile sigh in admiration. There’s also some lovely characterisation, especially of Rintaro the acutely shy bookish teenager referred to as a hikikomori here, but also of his wise friend Sayo Yuzuki and the cat named Tiger the tabby. And credit must go here to the sympathetic translation made by Louise Heal Kawai from the original Japanese novel, first published there in 2017.
And then there’s the quest – to help Tabby save books in three labyrinths. Each section involves the group rescuing books in each of these challenges, but at the same time dealing with some fundamental truths, about the world and themselves.
This was a lovely feel-good book that lived up to its potential, I’m very pleased to say. It is the equivalent of a warm hug for a bibliophile, a literary version of a Studio Ghibli movie. It is rare for me these days to give a sigh at finishing a book, but this one would be one of them that did. It is exquisite and charming.
A book worth spending time with, that celebrates the joy of reading and of books but also has some salutary message within. Short yet memorable, The Cat Who Saves Books is a book that lives up to the potential of the title.
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
Translated by Louise Heal Kawai
Published by Picador, September 2021
224 pages
ISBN: 978-1529081473
Review by Mark Yon
So geil, so geil, man.