The Goodbye Cat

Early last year, I enjoyed Hiro Arikawa’s novel, The Travelling Cat Chronicles, about a snarky cat whose loving owner is trying to find a new home for him. It was a beautiful and heartrending book, so I was excited to learn about the author’s new collection of short stories, The Goodbye Cat. Two of the stories reference back to her novel, while the remaining five introduce all-new characters. 

Special thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Review

As a lifelong cat lover and owner, I’m always happy to read books about cats. Authors have a way of identifying the ways humans and cats form a close bond and the ways cats can surprise us. The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa highlights an array of pet-owner relationships across its seven short stories, from helping a new dad develop his parental skills to the heartbreak of losing a beloved companion. 

The first five stories in The Goodbye Cat introduce new characters in contemporary Japan. They’re mostly realistic, whether told from the cat’s perspective or the human’s, but at least one dips into magical realism. The first story, which gives the collection its name, is one of the strongest and most heartbreaking. It describes a family of four and their two cats over the course of 20 years. Both cats know that life is finite, but they hope to be immortalized, if only they can figure out how. It’s beautiful and a tear-jerker by the end.

“Bringing Up Baby,” the second story, offers something happier: a married couple having their first baby, even though the dad seems underprepared. But when he unexpectedly adopts a newborn kitten, he has a new way to develop his parental skills. He becomes an excellent dad and cat dad. It’s certainly the cutest story here.

“Good Father / Bad Father” paints an ironic dichotomy between a grumpy man’s treatment of one pet cat versus another. “Cat Island” highlights a boy’s difficulty in accepting his father’s new wife after the death of his mother. A trip to an island famous for its feral cats helps young Ryo see the good in his new step-mother. “The Night Visitor,” by far the shortest story here, is something most pet owners can relate to: a hungry pet waking you in the middle of the night! Annoying… but cute. How to resist? 

The final two stories here will be very familiar to anyone who’s read the author’s novel, The Travelling Cat Chronicles. If you haven’t read that, these stories may have some spoilers, so proceed with caution. “Finding Hachi” gives us more insight into Satoru’s childhood and his first cat, Hachi. Like the novel, this story certainly brought on the waterworks! “Life Is Not Always Kind” offers an additional stop in Satoru’s efforts to find a new home for his beloved cat, Nana. 

All of the stories are filled with warmth, heart, and a genuine love for cats. Some stories may make you cry, but all will make you love your own cat even more. I read this whole book (and wrote this review) with my cat in my lap, and The Goodbye Cat makes me appreciate the time I have with her all the more.

Final Thoughts

The Goodbye Cat is a book that any cat lover—or animal lover in general—is sure to enjoy. From its contemplations on life and death to its simple celebration of our beloved feline companions, each story is a slice of life all pet owners can identify with on some level. 

Get the Book

You can buy The Goodbye Cat here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa
Translator	Philip Gabriel
Audience	Adult
Genre	Stories; Contemporary Fiction
Setting	Japan
Number of Pages	288
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley)
Original Publication Date	October 10, 2023 (English Translation)

Official Summary

In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Travelling Cat Chronicles, seven cats weave their way through their owners’ lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa.

Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever.

Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death—as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.