The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

I read a short review of The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa on Kelly’s blog. See her review here. I saw that the book was available at the local library, so I got a copy. I’m very glad I did because the book is fantastic. Like Kelly, I highly recommend it too.

Nana was a stray, injured by a car, and saved by Satoru. This is the story of Nana, a tomcat who travels with his owner Satoru in his silver van. In this trip, Satoru is visiting 3 friends from his past and asks them to take care of Nana. Important moments from his childhood are re-lived, but he doesn’t tell them why he is on this journey and why he wants to rehome Nana.

The story is narrated by the cat. Nana is sarcastic and funny. I enjoyed reading it. When I read the blurb I immediately knew why Satoru and Nana are on this journey. I borrowed the book, read it, and I was right in what I assumed the story is about. That didn’t spoil the enjoyment of reading the book at all.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Details about the picture: My travelling cat
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Random House UK
Year it was published: 2012
Format: Paperback
Genre(s): Fiction
Pages: 247

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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