Page 17 - Time Magazine-November 05, 2018

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but a kind of cautious custodianship
of their love. It’s not something they
can give away to just anybody. That
understanding of the wariness of feline
affection—and its ability to grow, over
time, into a thrumming force as deep as
a throaty purr—drives this fleet, funny
and tender book.
Shortly after that first meeting,
Nana truly becomes Satoru’s cat,
settling quickly into the rhythms of
domestic feline contentment. But fate
intervenes, and he and Satoru strike
out on a journey that illuminates
Satoru’s past and the friendships—
human and feline—that helped shape
him as an adult.
Satoru takes Nana to a grave site
along the way, prompting some
observations about the differences
between the ways humans and animals
view death. The cat’s way, as Nana
explains it, could free some humans
from lifelong angst. “When an animal’s
life is over, it rests where it falls,” he
notes. “If you have to consider what’s
ESSAY first meeting: He has been sleeping on going to happen after you die, life
On the wondrous the hood of Satoru’s silver van, parked becomes doubly troubling.”
outside his apartment building; the
world of cat fiction young man notices and tries to coax The sTory Arikawa tells is ultimately
him with a bit of chicken. “You think joyous, though it’s brushed with melan-
By Stephanie Zacharek
you’ll get all friendly with me by doing choly. No one gets through life without
that?” the soon-to-be-named Nana sadness, as any human who has lost a
Whenever i’m observes incredulously. “I’m not that cat, and any cat who has lost a human,
reading a hardcover easy. Then again, it’s not often I get knows. This is a gentle book about
cat-related book in to indulge in fresh meat—and it looks the way cats bear witness to our lives,
public—especially kind of succulent—so perhaps a little weaving through and around our days
one featuring a cat compromise is in order.” just as readily as, in moments of spon-
who talks—I always The dog lover’s bookshelf, stretching taneous affection or plain old hunger,
remove the dust from J.R. Ackerley’s My they weave around our legs.
jacket. Wouldn’t Dog Tulip to John Grogan’s Are cats born with strong,
want anyone to Marley and Me and beyond, ‘When an distinct personalities? Or do
think I’m one of those ladies. While may be long. But there are animal’s life their personalities take shape
the “cat lady” stereotype endures, nearly as many cat book is over, it rests only when they’re exposed to
the reality is that there are secret, and genres as there are types where it falls.’ humans? Not even a human
sometimes not-so-secret, leagues of of cats, too: mysteries as perceptive as Arikawa
men who are just as crazy about them. starring cats, memoirs HIRO ARIKAWA can answer those questions
The central character of Hiro Arikawa’s about people’s lives with definitively. But her book
winsome and bittersweet novel The cats, guides to figuring out how to make stands out within the world of cat
Travelling Cat Chronicles—a best seller our cats’ lives better. The mind of a cat literature even so, and it’s a world worth
in Japan, now translated into English remains essentially unknowable, no exploring. Arikawa examines loyalty
by Philip Gabriel—is one of those men. matter how many cat books a cat person and the nature of belonging—of people
Satoru loves cats in general and one reads, but Arikawa clearly knows cats belonging to animals, and the other way
cat in particular, a former stray with as well as any human can. From the around. Her book gives in to emotion
an auspiciously crooked tail whom he outset they must make their disdain for without slipping into sentimentality.
names Nana. humans clear, only to give in and accept And like cats themselves, it walks with
Nana himself, in a peppery interior the food already. Because what cats feel, dignity. So you can read it with the dust
monologue, tells the story of the duo’s Arikawa knows, is not really disdain jacket on. 
92 Time November 5, 2018