Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookshop he inherited from his beloved grandfather. Then, a talking cat named Tiger appears with an unusual request. The cat needs Rintaro’s help to save books that have been imprisoned, destroyed and unloved.
Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different labyrinths to set books free. Through their travels, Tiger and Rintaro meet a man who locks up his books, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publisher who only wants to sell books like disposable products. Then, finally, there is a mission that Rintaro must complete alone . . .
An enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, and an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.
Genre: Fiction
Number of Pages: 224 Pages
Date of Publication: 16/09/2021
Author/Illustrator/Publisher:
The author of this book is Sosuke Natsukawa and the translator is Louise Heal Kawai.
The book was published by Pan Macmillan.
Rating: 5/5
Review:
The ‘Cat who saved books’ is such a heart-warming and beautiful story featuring a boy who doesn’tknow what to do after the death of his grandfather until a tabby cat called Tiger arrives needing help to save lost, forgotten and unwanted books and brings wonderful personality to the story.
I really enjoyed the story and the characters although I did feel that maybe the writing was a bit slow. If I am being honest this is the first Japanese book translated to English that I read so I am not sure if it is meant to be paced this way. I loved the philosophical parts of the book and the messages that are transmitted though the story. It actually reminded me of how important books are for teaching us lessons, enriching and changing our lives and how important is to share them. Another message that I found very important is that sometimes when we help others that in a way they are helping us as well without us realising, like when Rintaro Natsuki was helping the cat he realized that actually the cat was helping him to realise his purpose and value in so many ways.
I would love to give you more details but I don’t want to spoil the story for you guy so I will just say that this books explains the power of books and the power of knowledge.
At the end of the book there is a translators note which explains the way in which the book was translated. I also found out that the cat in the original Japanese is always referred to as ‘a cat’ and never with he/she gender pronouns or even as ‘it’ which the translator keeps in the English version.
This is the perfect story for anyone who loves books and who loves sharing them with others and also having a cat in the story made it all a bit more fantastic.
Thank you so much Netgalley for my ARC and as soon as I saw the book at The Edinburgh bookshop I had to have it.
Availability: I found this lovely book at the Edinburgh bookshop.
Shelf Life 
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