Genki Kawamura - If Cats Disappeared From the World

Our narrator’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat Cabbage for company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can set about tackling his bucket list, the Devil appears with a special offer: in exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, he can have one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week...
Because how do you decide what makes life worth living? How do you separate out what you can do without from what you hold dear? In dealing with the Devil our narrator will take himself – and his beloved cat – to the brink. Genki Kawamura's If Cats Disappeared from the World is a story of loss and reconciliation, of one man’s journey to discover what really matters in modern life.

Comment: This was one of the books I got at the library last time I went there. No reason why, only it was a small book and it would include cats.

The narrator of this book is told he only has a short amount of time to live. To make things even worse, he is also still dealing with the loss of his mother and their first cat, as well as with the estrangement with his father. However, the devil appears and offers him a deal, for one thing he decides the world can be rid of, he will have one extra day to live. At first he decides he won't do it but after some thinking he accepts the offer. But will he accept the choices presented by the devil and the price required?

This is a small book, in the Portuguese edition not even 200 pages, but if it is the kind of book one wants, it can be said to be full of emotion and food for thought. I liked reading this book, and before seeing it at the library's display I had not heard of it nor of the author. Still, I will say right away that it reminded me immediately of Hiro Arikawa's The Travelling Cat Chronicles, which I've read in 2021. The theme and part of the content are extremely similar, but Arikawa's book touched me more profoundly, I'll admit.

The plot of this one isn't complicated, and as one can probably imagine, the deal with the devil is just a metaphor for our existence, really. The narrator must determine if his morals and natural inclination for doing the right thing can interfere with his human and selfish desire to have more time. I think the metaphor was done well enough and the musings the narrator presents while debating what to do and how to deal with his options were provoking.

This is meant to be a quiet story about the meaning of relationships. The narrator lost his mother and in the process he and his father became distant. I could see the interest of developing the emotions associate with these events and how, when faced with a limited time, the narrator regrets some of the decisions made in the past. For most people regrets are constant but life goes on, thus it was quite an exercise to see how one might ponder the meaning of regretting something and how much that truly impacts decisions in life. I really think those people who say they regret nothing and they would do everything the same are not being honest...

The main character is facing a dilemma and, in the process he interacts with a few other characters, namely an ex girlfriend and his cat Cabbage. The cat, in particular (to my personal enjoyment), is very cute and is given a magical realism ability to speak to the narrator, which helps him move along in his realization of the meaning of life or any other type of message one might get from this book. I really can't imagine a world without cats and I think this part of the story was my favorite.

Portuguese cover

At the same time I liked the details, I can't help thinking the full picture isn't as strong as I've felt the other similar book I had read to be. It is almost as if this one is another version of that book (I saw they were both released in the same year, a few months apart) and comparing the two - there are many similarities - this one didn't impress me as strongly. Perhaps because I've read the other first? I can't really explain why.

I liked the author's writing style but, then again, it does follow the vibe of other similar books I've read by Japanese authors. The story is delivered with simplicity and provides interesting ideas about what is worth in life or not. I think this is a very easy story to read and a good introduction to Japanese authors, if someone is in doubt on whether it would be something they wanted to try. For me,it didn't affect me as much as Arikawa's book, but it does include a lot of emotional content.

Grade: 8/10