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Amusing, sad and thought-provoking novel set in Japan

2nd October 2018

If Cats Disappeared From The World by Genki Kawamura (excellently translated by Eric Selland) – amusing, sad and thought-provoking novel set in Japan.

If Cats Disappeared From The WorldAmusing, sad and thought-provoking novel set in Japan is the story of the last week in the life of the narrator, an unnamed 30 year old Japanese postman diagnosed with a brain tumour and told by his doctor he is going to die.

He goes back in shock to his tiny apartment and to his cat Cabbage, with whom he shares his life. And then the Devil appears – looking a lot like the narrator himself, but very brash and dressed in an Hawaiian shirt. He offers him a deal. He can live an extra day each time he asks the Devil to remove an item from the world – the items, of course, to be chosen by the Devil. But, as the story progresses, we realise that all the items are chosen to represent something significant in our narrator’s life. Is the Devil the alter ego of our narrator? Is the narrator trying to explain and atone for past mistakes?

The first item is mobile phones. The story debates the advantages of a peaceful world without the intrusion of constant communication, set against the obvious convenience that a connected world brings – and it appears our narrator had a long-standing romance that was conducted very largely by phone. He and his girlfriend came back from vacation on a long-haul plane and had nothing to say to each other… until they got back and could again pick up their phones. The second item is movies – and our narrator is a movie buff and his girlfriend (the same one) works as a projectionist in a local movie theatre. The removal of movies will destroy a large part of their lives. And the third is clocks – our narrator’s father, from whom he is estranged, is a clock repairer and his work will be destroyed. Each of the three episodes is told with humour and understanding – despite the consequences of what is being done and the impact it will have on our narrator’s life going forward.

Then the Devil decides that cats will be next on the list of items to disappear. And this poses a real dilemma for our narrator. Does he condemn his only real friend, Cabbage, to vanish for ever? What would his life be like without him? But, if he were to refuse and spare Cabbage, then who would look after the cat after his death?

If Cats Disappeared From The World is not a long read (less than 200 pages). It is a very Japanese book, but one that I’m sure will now find success in translation outside its home market (where, incidentally, it has sold over one million copies…)

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