4/5 stars.
ebook, 238 pages.
Read on August 17, 2018.
I tried twice to get this book from Netgalley, that is how badly I wanted to read it. I mean, come on, most of the book is narrated by a cat! How could I not!? Thankfully I was able to a copy and absolutely devoured it one sitting. This book has been published since November 2017 but will be published in paperback on October 23, 2018.
I have noticed that I have an affinity for translated Japanese and Korean books. There is something about the style that really speaks to me. Haruki Murakami (who also likes to write about cats) and Han Kang are two of my going favourite authors at the moment and I may have to add Arikawa to the list as well. This book is translated by Philip Gabriel, the same man responsible for translating most of Murakami’s works, and I get the impression he is the best at what he does.
I am not a crier. I don’t think I have ever cried reading a book but damn, this one brought me really close. 
I was on the brink of a sad but uplifting-ugly-cry with this story that will bring just about anyone to the same soppy-state.
Nana, as you come to know him, was a stray cat for most of his life and proudly so. He regularly sat on top of a silver van in suburban Japan and one day a young man greeted him. His name is Satoru. Satoru begins to leave out food for Nana, which he cautiously eats. Humans are fickle and are not to be depended on. However, one day Nana gets hit by a car and is left with injuries, that, if left untreated will kill him. He slinks over to where the van is located and screams as loud as he can for Satoru, the only human he has a remote connection with. Satoru takes care of Nana and gives him his peculiar name. Nana is similar to a cat that Satoru grew up with and was tragically separated from after the tragic accident that killed his parents. After caring for Nana for a few months, Satoru however, abruptly decides to try and rehome Nana with no explanation to the reader, despite his clear reluctance to the idea and his extreme attachment to Nana. Satoru takes Nana on a road trip to visit his old school friends in order to find a comfortable and suitable home for Nana. None of the homes seems to fit the bill but with each visit, you learn more about Satoru’s elusive past and the tragic reason why he feels the need to find a new home for his beloved cat. Nana tries to pretend that he is fine with being rehomed but as the trip progresses he realizes that he does not want to belong to anyone else but Satoru.
Love, family, friends, and loyalty are some of the main themes in this novel all which are sure to hit you right in the feels, even if you are not a cat-lover, though ESPECIALLY if you are a cat lover. The narrative style is light and easy and the author does a great job of slowly piecing together the life of Satoru for the reader and in creating intrigue with Satoru and his mysterious troubles. By the end of the story, I will say that the majority of readers will be in some form of crying; whether withheld tears, free-flow or the all-out ugly-cry.
This story is accessible to every reader and is an easy book to recommend to nearly any family member or friend. This is actually one of those few books I will go out of my way to add to my physical library so that I can re-read and lend out again and again.
The Pluviophile Writer 
One thought on “The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa”