Ultimately unsatisfying
3 stars
I was attracted to If Cats Disappeared From The World by its philosophical premise, its cats and death themes (perfect October reading subjects), and the adorable kitten on the cover. I also liked that this book is translated by Eric Selland whose work I previously read in The Guest Cat - a wonderful Japanese novel. I hoped that If Cats Disappeared From The World would have the emotional heft of The Guest Cat or even A World Without Color. Unfortunately I felt it was too light and didn't explore its themes as deeply as I would have liked.
Kawamura poses ideas and situations such as the appearance of the Devil or the vanishing of various aspects of modern life, but doesn't follow though into their hows or whys or really explore the implications. Plus our narrator doesn't actually seem that distressed by his imminent demise if the story is to …
I was attracted to If Cats Disappeared From The World by its philosophical premise, its cats and death themes (perfect October reading subjects), and the adorable kitten on the cover. I also liked that this book is translated by Eric Selland whose work I previously read in The Guest Cat - a wonderful Japanese novel. I hoped that If Cats Disappeared From The World would have the emotional heft of The Guest Cat or even A World Without Color. Unfortunately I felt it was too light and didn't explore its themes as deeply as I would have liked.
Kawamura poses ideas and situations such as the appearance of the Devil or the vanishing of various aspects of modern life, but doesn't follow though into their hows or whys or really explore the implications. Plus our narrator doesn't actually seem that distressed by his imminent demise if the story is to be taken at face value as written. I could empathise with our narrator's predicament at times, but often felt quite distanced from him too. Perhaps this story is all a surreal hallucination caused by the stress of his diagnosis? I could connect more strongly when the story focused on the narrator's mother and her first cat Lettuce. These sections felt much more emotional and I could envisage the characters in these scenes. The fantastical elements of If Cats Disappeared From The World however left me unsatisfied.