The Guest Cat

by Takashi Hiraide

The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller

A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo. They work at home as freelance writers. They no longer have very much to say to one another.

One day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. She is a beautiful creature. She leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. New, small joys accompany the cat; the days have more light and colour. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife; they go walking together, talk and share stories of the cat and its little ways, play in the nearby Garden. But then something happens that will change everything again.

The Guest Cat is an exceptionally moving and beautiful novel about the nature of life and the way it feels to live it. Written by Japanese poet and novelist Takashi Hiraide, the book won Japan's Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, and was a bestseller in France and America.

• ISBN10: 0811221512
• ISBN13: 9780811221511
• Publish Date: 28 January 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

Looking back on it now, I’d say one’s thirties are a cruel age. At this point, I think of them as a time I whiled away unaware of the tide that can suddenly pull you out, beyond the shallows, into the sea of hardship, and even death.

— A quiet novella about a couple and the cat that brings back meaning to their lives. Poignant but did not resonate with me.