If Cats Disappeared From The World is a heart-wrenching contemporary fiction novel by Genki Kawamura. It was originally written in Japanese, but was translated to many languages after its high success in the entire country. What hooked me immediately to this book was the title and cover. I was out with my friends at Barnes and Noble and this book immediately caught my eye. The title seemed silly and fun, so I picked it up and saw a black cat on a beige cover, which made me think the book would be much deeper than the title makes it seem. So that day, I bought the book and it was indeed a beautiful and deep book that brought tears to my eyes. 

Synopsis:

The book starts with our narrator, whose name is never revealed, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He panics and runs home, passing out on his apartment floor. When he wakes up, a doppelganger of himself in a Hawaiian shirt is standing in his apartment, who turns out to be the devil. The devil offers our narrator a deal: one extra day of life in exchange for getting rid of something from the world forever. For example, on the first day, he deletes phones from the world, but then notices the role phones played in society. The book tells his journey through this hard time, accompanied by his cat, Cabbage. 

Review:

One of the great things about this book is that it’s an easy read. Although the message and themes in this book are a bit advanced, the writer’s style is to use simpler words to convey the deep meaning of life and living. This makes the book wonderful for high schoolers and some middle schoolers, making them ponder over the book but not feel overwhelmed while reading.

The main character, who remains unnamed throughout the story, is written as a very simple man. He works as a postman for his small town, and lives alone with his cat, Cabbage. Throughout the book, we learn about his past, his loving relationship with his deceased mother and his difficult relationship with his father. As he journeys through his past when faced with imminent death, we learn about his hobbies, his lost love, and his family. 

The book is written over a week-long period. It starts on a Monday, the day he finds out he is terminally ill, and ends six days later, on Sunday. Each day is a new chapter, where he must choose a new thing to delete from the world. While the story isn’t very long, the pacing of the story helps the reader to feel how the main character is reminiscing and making such difficult decisions every day. 

Since it was translated from Japanese, the book’s writing can often feel a bit confusing at times, and I occasionally found myself re-reading a sentence to understand a feeling or moment that the author is trying to convey. Despite this, If Cats Disappeared From The World is definitely one of my favorite books because the author is able to convey difficult emotions about life and death with simple sentences and words, while still being able to create an enchantingly sentimental story. 

Rating and Recommendation:

If Cats Disappeared From The World is definitely a beautiful book. I’d recommend it to any reader looking for a meaningful book to read that won’t give the overwhelming feeling that classics can often cause since they can be hard reads. This book has changed my outview on the world forever, and therefore I give it a 5/5 rating, 📚📚📚📚📚!!

Love, Bruna

GFB Ambassador