The Blanket Cats
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Description
"The Blanket Cats is a triumph" Jinwoo Chong, award-winning author of FluxFlux and I Leave It Up to You
Is three days with a cat enough to change your life?
The troubled and anxious of Tokyo are desperate to find out. They all have their problems - and they all want to believe that a feline companion from a unique pet shop can help them find a solution. But there are rules: they must be returned after three days, and they must always sleep in their own familiar blankets.
In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven such customers, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.
But like all their kind, the blanket cats are mysterious creatures with their own unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn't what they really need.
Three days may not be enough to change your life. But it might be enough to change how you see it.
Translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood
Book Information
Posts
Perspektivenwechsel auf Pfoten.
Ein kinderloses Ehepaar. Eine Frau, die ihren Arbeitgeber bestohlen hat. Ein Kind, das in der Schule ein anderes Kind mobbt. Diese und weitere Geschichten werden von Shigematsu in "The Blanket Cats" erzählt. Die Blanket Cats sind besonders umgängliche Katzen, die für drei Tage ausgeliehen werden können. Es gelten keine Regeln – außer der, dass sie mit dem mitgegebenen Futter versorgt werden müssen und eine Decke dabei ist. Auf diese Decke kann sich die jeweilige Katze jederzeit zurückziehen. In jeder neuen Kurzgeschichte erhält man einen Einblick in das Leben der oben genannten Menschen. Die Katzen sind wie stumme Wegbegleiter und verändern deren Lebenslage auf subtile Weise. Japanische Literatur hat oft eine ganz besondere, stille Tiefe. Meistens muss man sich selbst ein Gefühl oder eine Botschaft zusammensetzen – so auch in diesem Buch. Besonders den Perspektivwechsel, den die Menschen hier durch das Zusammenleben mit den Katzen erfahren, fand ich stellenweise sehr ergreifend und auch süß. Wie ihr sehen könnt, haben meine zwei 🐈🐈 mitgelesen – und das Buch ebenfalls für gut befunden. Ich finde auch das Cover sehr gelungen!
This is your sign not to read the reviews before reading the book.
I was so looking forward to this—I mean it’s CATS, right?—and then I skimmed the reviews and was soo disappointed. But still decided to read it. And look at me loving it! I will admit, this was not what I expected. It was not the cute, uplifting story about cats nor was it the absolutely wretched wreck the reviews promised me. It was short and sweet, it was sad in places, it was raw and real human emotion. The author picked up on some heavy topics like age, illness, family problems, etc. That will not be easy to read for everyone because in the way the stories are kept vague, you can see yourself in each of them. I get why some people don’t like reading that, especially if you’re expecting to be reading about cute cats and cute cats only. The only two criticisms I have are that I wish the last two chapters had been switched. Chapter 6 was so cute and hopeful at the end and chapter 7 was so devastating, I wish we could’ve ended on the happier one. Also, the majority of the stories felt unfinished and while I see the intent behind that, I would’ve loved to read about HOW exactly the cats changed the lives of the people. What happened next? We’re meeting all these people at a turning point in their lives but we never get to see which way they choose.
Description
"The Blanket Cats is a triumph" Jinwoo Chong, award-winning author of FluxFlux and I Leave It Up to You
Is three days with a cat enough to change your life?
The troubled and anxious of Tokyo are desperate to find out. They all have their problems - and they all want to believe that a feline companion from a unique pet shop can help them find a solution. But there are rules: they must be returned after three days, and they must always sleep in their own familiar blankets.
In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven such customers, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.
But like all their kind, the blanket cats are mysterious creatures with their own unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn't what they really need.
Three days may not be enough to change your life. But it might be enough to change how you see it.
Translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood
Book Information
Posts
Perspektivenwechsel auf Pfoten.
Ein kinderloses Ehepaar. Eine Frau, die ihren Arbeitgeber bestohlen hat. Ein Kind, das in der Schule ein anderes Kind mobbt. Diese und weitere Geschichten werden von Shigematsu in "The Blanket Cats" erzählt. Die Blanket Cats sind besonders umgängliche Katzen, die für drei Tage ausgeliehen werden können. Es gelten keine Regeln – außer der, dass sie mit dem mitgegebenen Futter versorgt werden müssen und eine Decke dabei ist. Auf diese Decke kann sich die jeweilige Katze jederzeit zurückziehen. In jeder neuen Kurzgeschichte erhält man einen Einblick in das Leben der oben genannten Menschen. Die Katzen sind wie stumme Wegbegleiter und verändern deren Lebenslage auf subtile Weise. Japanische Literatur hat oft eine ganz besondere, stille Tiefe. Meistens muss man sich selbst ein Gefühl oder eine Botschaft zusammensetzen – so auch in diesem Buch. Besonders den Perspektivwechsel, den die Menschen hier durch das Zusammenleben mit den Katzen erfahren, fand ich stellenweise sehr ergreifend und auch süß. Wie ihr sehen könnt, haben meine zwei 🐈🐈 mitgelesen – und das Buch ebenfalls für gut befunden. Ich finde auch das Cover sehr gelungen!
This is your sign not to read the reviews before reading the book.
I was so looking forward to this—I mean it’s CATS, right?—and then I skimmed the reviews and was soo disappointed. But still decided to read it. And look at me loving it! I will admit, this was not what I expected. It was not the cute, uplifting story about cats nor was it the absolutely wretched wreck the reviews promised me. It was short and sweet, it was sad in places, it was raw and real human emotion. The author picked up on some heavy topics like age, illness, family problems, etc. That will not be easy to read for everyone because in the way the stories are kept vague, you can see yourself in each of them. I get why some people don’t like reading that, especially if you’re expecting to be reading about cute cats and cute cats only. The only two criticisms I have are that I wish the last two chapters had been switched. Chapter 6 was so cute and hopeful at the end and chapter 7 was so devastating, I wish we could’ve ended on the happier one. Also, the majority of the stories felt unfinished and while I see the intent behind that, I would’ve loved to read about HOW exactly the cats changed the lives of the people. What happened next? We’re meeting all these people at a turning point in their lives but we never get to see which way they choose.