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Details Appertaining To Books The Guest Cat

Title	:	The Guest Cat
Author	:	Takashi Hiraide
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 140 pages
Published	:	January 28th 2014 by New Directions (first published 2001)
Categories	:	Fiction. Cultural. Japan. Asian Literature. Japanese Literature. Animals. Cats. Contemporary

The Guest Cat

Takashi Hiraide

Paperback | Pages: 140 pages

Rating: 3.53 | 15408 Users | 2105 Reviews

Rendition During Books The Guest Cat

A bestseller in France and winner of Japan’s Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife — the days have more light and color. The novel brims with new small joys and many moments of staggering poetic beauty, but then something happens….


As Kenzaburo Oe has remarked, Takashi Hiraide’s work "really shines." His poetry, which is remarkably cross-hatched with beauty, has been acclaimed here for "its seemingly endless string of shape-shifting objects and experiences,whose splintering effect is enacted via a unique combination of speed and minutiae."

List Books Conducive To The Guest Cat

Original Title:	猫の客 [Neko no kyaku]
ISBN:	0811221504 (ISBN13: 9780811221504)
Edition Language:	English
Setting:	Tokyo(Japan)

Rating Appertaining To Books The Guest Cat

Ratings: 3.53 From 15408 Users | 2105 Reviews

Weigh Up Appertaining To Books The Guest Cat

Delightful book about a guest cat who visits a couple in their but also looks at life in general too of emotions, loss and longing

I'm no expert in literature, but I'd hazard a guess that any problems readers may have with this book are based in cultural differences rather than any literary failings with the book itself. The book is very Japanese in that it focuses/describes one element at a time. Its poetry is in its illustration of people, places, and things, not of events, which is pretty counter to my experience of Western literature. It's so descriptive that at many points I found myself wishing I had an iota of

I did not enjoy or get anything out of this book. I see someone at Amazon is going through the negative reviews and flagging them as "unhelpful" -- well that in itself is unhelpful, because the book is definitely not above reproach. One of my two stars is because, given all the praise and honors "The Guest Cat" has garnered, I wonder if most of it is lost in translation, not because of any failing on the part of the translator, but as a result of the material. I am familiar with Japanese

There's no way to be sure just how much the translator is responsible for my not liking this book, but he may be a large part of the reason I finally took the book back to the library about two-thirds of the way through it. The early promise of simple elegance never gets beyond precious word choice, soggy subtlety, and vapid characters. I was aching for light and color, for a heartbeat that never came.

This was a lovely, luminous, and sad little book. For me, it evoked memories of adopted strays from my past: a bittersweet last meal for a fluffy tabby tomcat, as he eagerly leaned in for me to pet him while he scarfed up the cat food I offered, and I felt twinges of guilt at my knowledge that the food would not be there the next day, that our belongings would be packed up, our lives continued elsewhere, while he would show up again, expecting no disruption of his cyclical needs and his daily

This philosophical, poetic book is infused with Japanese culture. The ability of the author to describe ordinary life and ordinary days and an ordinary neighborhood in such simple, profound ways was outstanding. This was translated into English so I think the translator should get some credit. However, realistically, some of the beauty or context of the original text may have been "lost in translation". Although, on the surface, the story could be about the guest cat, Chibi, I think it was more

Cats are connoisseurs of comfort. ----James HerriotTakashi Hiraide, a Japanese writer, has penned a soul touching and thoroughly captivating tale about a cat and a couple's relationship in his book, The Guest Cat that is centered around a mid aged couple who are freelance writers and work from their rented cottage and lead a very quite and uneventful life, but one day their life brings purpose as an uninvited as well as the neighbor's cat lands up to their kitchen and starts visiting their