The Guest Cat

At the store recently I came across The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, translated from Japanese. I love cats and am going to adopt one soon, so I was excited to read this book about a cat who comes into the lives of a couple in Tokyo. 

This married couple has no cat of their own, and they’ve grown distant from each other. But when a neighbor cat shows up in their home one day, it starts the course of new marvels to bring the couple closer together again. Over the months, this cat, Chibi, keeps returning, and the couple look forward to her visits. They start to think of Chibi as a friend in cat form, as a part of their small family, even though they know she belongs to someone else. What can they do about the bond with this cat who is only superficially part of their life?

The Guest Cat is a quiet, gentle story. It unfolds subtly, like a poem or a diary entry. It’s quite short and is a quick read, yet it plays out in a way that feels slow-paced in the best way, like you can savor it. This is a sweet book that will appeal to cat lovers and anyone who’s bonded with a pet.