Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Cat Who Saved Books

I thought this book was delightful. The cat was endearing to me, and I enjoyed the reluctantly helpful teenager who got dragged along helping the cat.

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apollo0325's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A reflective, grief-stricken, and compassionate love letter to books and book lovers. Rintaro’s journey through this entire book was beautiful and heartaching, and as a former bookseller and current employee within publishing, I can’t help but be moved by the magic and love pouring from these pages. A must read for fans of Diana Wynne Jones, Studio Ghibli, and sassy cats. And books, of course.

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kappafrog's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book was disappointing. It felt like an anime you'd find really deep as a tween, but as an adult it's heavy handed and not as profound as it thinks it is. The characters were flat, and everything they did or felt was over-explained. They felt more like stock characters than real people, and the dialogue was often unnatural.

The arguments about literature were surprisingly conservative, with a disdain for anything that wasn't a Western classic.

The final labyrinth sequence seemed to imply that the final "boss" was the Bible. While it was interesting to see the Bible represented as a Japanese woman, it didn't make a lot of sense.

Gender was handled very awkwardly. We're told Sayo is smart, but this is never actually demonstrated, and she's shown to struggle understanding books, especially those that aren't romances. Even the translator seemed to notice this because she mentions making the cat's gender ambiguous because she didn't think the book needed another male hero.

The best parts were the surreal details of the labyrinth sequences, and

the carriage conversation between Rintaro and Tiger. I really liked the scene where you learn he represents the souls of books that Rintaro has loved.

The way books moved in the labyrinths and the use of space in the transitional sequences were cool. Overall though, this book felt surprisingly shallow and mediocre.

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novella42's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I think this book was not for me. I nearly stopped reading when

he brought out the damsel in distress trope, especially considering Sayo was the most interesting character

but it was a short enough book I was able to finish it.

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aleilvandrea's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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joymargot's review against another edition

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2.0

Japanese books with cats on the cover and books about books are almost always my favourites, but this one fell a little flat for me. Perhaps something was lost in the translation, but the dialogue was rather wooden and Rintaro’s “compelling arguments” are more trite than profound. The notion of books not being enjoyed in the “right” way had a whiff of gatekeeping about it too.

It’s a quick read and not entirely without merit, but I’d recommend these alternatives if you’re new to Japanese literature:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (for fans of magical realism)
She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa (for cat lovers)
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama (for book lovers)

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darumachan's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This novella has a cute and appealing premise, and the detailed descriptions of the characters and the various book labyrinths they visit make it easy to imagine as an anime adaptation.

The plot was not as solid-- the adventures were all quite simplistic, and the various "adversaries" were defeated with little more than a few superficial comments from the main character. Tiger the cat had a lot of potential as a character but was relegated to a minor role that was barely likable because of his aloofness. The plot was further weighed down by a heavily moralizing tone -- sweeping statements about how "nobody reads books anymore" or "these days the classics aren't appreciated" -- and each of the adversaries represented one of these ideas. Rintaro's arguments to defeat each of them also presented a very narrow prescription of what an ideal reader- someone who "truly" loves books- should be.

My biggest issue was with the shallow and pejorative representation of Rintaro as "hikikomori", often translated as a "shut-in," in reference to a serious condition that is viewed as a problematic social issue in Japan. There are a lot of ways that hikikomori manifests but, in general, it describes people who retreat from their public lives and social commitments because they are dealing with severe depression or other serious mental health issues. First of all, Natsukawa's use of the term for main character Rintaro comes across as slightly exaggerated because he is already fairly engaged with multiple people in his life, and he is regularly at work in the family bookshop. But throughout the novella, multiple comments fed into the harmful stereotypes about hikikomori -- for example, that Rintaro is a "moody, gloomy bookworm" and "a hopeless shut-in" -- but most frustratingly, that Rintaro's real problem is that he is just too focused on himself and that he can "get over" being a hikikomori by thinking about other people and to stop being so selfish.

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mpluisa_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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