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sheryl_macca's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Cat and The City is written in a very 'Japanese' way. It's slow paced, understated and full of metaphor. The City is more than a setting. Every aspect of the city is explored; as a birth place, home, place of work or a place to play, a place chosen to be in, a place you find yourself in, a place for the young, old, artistic, traditional, homeless and cash rich. The Cat is a motif, a thread that meanders through each chapter/story. Each chapter is centred around a different person but these people are all connected, knowingly or unknowingly, by the cat or the city or by both.
At first I found The Cat and The City to be calming but intriguing. It was really beautiful to read of the city and the characters we meet with their full and mysterious back stories. However, just before the halfway point we meet Mari. She is an unlikeable character with an unexpected raunchy plotline. Mari's story changed the mood, killed the atmosphere, ruined the magic. From this point on the book was less mysterious and more strange and dark. The sudden turn was jarring and it spoiled my enjoyment of the book. There was suddenly a sci fi section, a section with photographs and a manga section.
At the end of the book some of the plotlines had a resolution, others didn't but it felt emotional. The book as a whole ended up being much more intense than I had bargained for.
At first I found The Cat and The City to be calming but intriguing. It was really beautiful to read of the city and the characters we meet with their full and mysterious back stories. However, just before the halfway point we meet Mari. She is an unlikeable character with an unexpected raunchy plotline. Mari's story changed the mood, killed the atmosphere, ruined the magic. From this point on the book was less mysterious and more strange and dark. The sudden turn was jarring and it spoiled my enjoyment of the book. There was suddenly a sci fi section, a section with photographs and a manga section.
At the end of the book some of the plotlines had a resolution, others didn't but it felt emotional. The book as a whole ended up being much more intense than I had bargained for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Medical content