The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa – Seven Cat Stories – is a collection of stories. I gave the book 4 stars because it is a mix of good stories and ones that are not as good. One I really disliked. The readers who also read The Travelling Cat Chronicles will recognise 2 cats from that book.

I think one of my favourite stories was that of Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin. The story of Satoru’s first cat, Hachi, was another beautiful story that I loved. My third favourite story was of Kota, who plans to become a spirit when he dies, so he and his owner can be together in death. It sounds really strange, considering my views of religion, but I liked that story so much. Anyway, it is a talking cat dreaming of afterlife, it is as fiction as it gets.

The stories are short, so even with limited time, one can be read entirely. I do recommend the book, regardless if you’ve read the Travelling Cat Chronicles or not. The two stories that I didn’t like might have been a sign of cultural differences, between an European view and a Japanese view. I am glad I read the book and I would read any other books by this author, especially as this is the 3rd I am reading thus far.

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa

Details about the picture: my cat posed for this book
My rating: 4/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Doubleday
Year it was published: 2023
Format: Paperback
Genre(s): Fiction
Pages: 245

About the author: Hiro Arikawa won the tenth annual Dengeki Novel Prize for new writers for Shio no Machi: Wish on My Precious in 2003, and the book was published the following year. It was praised for its love story between a heroine and hero divided by age and social status, and for its depiction of military structures. Although she is a light novelist, her books from her second work onwards have been published as hardbacks alongside more literary works with Arikawa receiving special treatment in this respect from her publisher, MediaWorks. Shio no Machi was also later published in hardback. Her 2006 light novel Toshokan Sensō (The Library War) was named as Hon no Zasshi’s number one for entertainment for the first half of 2006, and came fifth in the Honya Taishō for that year, competing against ordinary novels.
She often writes about the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and her first three novels concerning its three branches are known as the Jieitai Sanbusaku (The SDF Trilogy); she also wrote about the fictional Library Forces in the Toshokan Sensō series. Raintree no Kuni, which first appeared as a book within a book in Toshokan Nairan was later published by Arikawa as a spin-off with another publisher. It was adapted into a film titled World of Delight released In November 2015. Her novel Shokubutsu Zukan (ja) will be adapted into a film titled Shokubutsu Zukan: Unmei no Koi, Hiroimashita and scheduled for release on June 4, 2016.
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