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In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Travelling Cat Chronicles, seven cats weave their way through their owners’ lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa. Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever. Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death—as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.
In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Travelling Cat Chronicles, seven cats weave their way through their owners’ lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa. Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever. Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death—as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the cover
The Goodbye Cat
A small dish of soy sauce sat on the dining table. A couple of grains of rice floated in it, left over from breakfast, no doubt. The dining table was covered by a light blue tablecloth printed with a random pattern of small flowers.
Kota Sakuraba placed a palm into the soy sauce, then pushed it firmly onto the tablecloth, being careful to avoid the flowers. He left his palm there for a bit, then lifted it to reveal a small, soy sauce-colored plum blossom print.
Not bad, not bad at all.
Gazing at his work, Kota again dipped his palm in the soy sauce. Then again, and again. More and more soy sauce-colored plum flowers bloomed on the blue cloth.
I'm in the zone today.
He was about to make a fifth and a sixth print when-
"Hiromi! Stop that!" Mom scolded.
Damn, I'm busted, thought Kota, ears pinned back against his head.
And then-
"Did I do something?"
It was Hiromi, in the hallway, peeking uncertainly into the living room. He was the Sakuraba family's second son.
Kota was the Sakurabas' third-eldest son-scratch that, cat-but Kota considered himself the second eldest, with Hiromi as the third in line.
"Goodness," Mom said, seeing Hiromi in the doorway. She burst out laughing. "Sorry! I'm wrong. It's Kota. He's being an artist again."
That's what the Sakuraba family called it when Kota made his little paw prints: he was being an artist.
Kota found this hard to fathom, since it wasn't like he was painting a picture.
"You're at it again, eh?" Hiromi said, coming over and giving Kota a gentle flick of the finger on his forehead.
"Please don't do that, Kota," Mom said. "Our tablecloths have your paw prints all over them." She grabbed Kota under his belly, and wiped his soy-soaked paw vigorously with a damp dishcloth. Kota didn't like feeling wet, and so he quickly withdrew his paw and began to lick it.
"Hey, Mom, I wanted to say the same thing to you: please don't do that. I don't like these false accusations."
"Ah, sorry. It just came out. I never make that mistake with Masahiro."
The mistake Mom always made was to mix up Hiromi's and Kota's names. She never called Masahiro, who was Hiromi's elder brother, Kota by mistake. All three shared the same Chinese character in their written names, though in Kota's case, it was pronounced differently.
"Well, it seems like it's the youngest child's fate to be confused with the family cat."
"Really?" asked Mom.
"I looked into it," said Hiromi. "My friends and I talked about it at school. The ones that get called the wrong name are all the youngest in the family."
"Well, what do you know," Mom said as she attempted to scrub away Kota's paw prints from the tablecloth. "Masahiro's left home, hasn't he? So if I'm going to mistake anyone's name, Hiromi, you're the only one still around."
"What do you mean?" Hiromi shot back with a smile. "You've been doing it since I was a kid. Mistaking me and Kota."
Mom just laughed it off. "I'm going to have to wash this," she said, folding her arms and looking disapprovingly at the tablecloth. "How did Kota learn to do that naughty trick, anyway?" she wondered aloud.
Mom's familiar response, to which Kota wrinkled his nose.
That is no naughty trick. It's a dry run.
Kota was honing his skills at making paw prints, readying himself for when the time came.
C
His earliest memory was of being terribly cold.
During the rainy season twenty years ago, for whatever reason his mother had left him behind.
His eyes still hadn't fully opened....
Reviews-
June 10, 2024
The titular cat in Arikawa's (The Travelling Cat Chronicles) latest narrates the first story in this joyous collection. He is utterly charming and earnest; listeners will undoubtedly be in tears when he says goodbye. He is also, apparently, English. While narrator George Blagden's performance is a pleasure to experience, his British-accented pronunciation of Japanese words occasionally transports listeners from Japan to the British Isles. This approach is jarring, since Japan is as important to Arikawa's stories as their feline focus. Even so, Blagden approaches human and cat protagonists with equal seriousness, portraying them as layered, believable characters. While "The Goodbye Cat" is the most potent story in the collection, the rest are nearly as moving. Death, whether feline or human, is a common theme, but the most important focus is on family, with many stories demonstrating how loving cats can strengthen the bonds between humans. VERDICT Stories featuring pet death are not for everyone, but Arikawa's poignant tales ring true. Perfect for listeners who enjoy novels exploring the intersection of animals and community, such as Beth Morrey's The Love Story of Missy Carmichael.--Matthew Galloway
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Bahrain, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
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