The Guest Cat

(Engelstalig)
The Guest Cat van Takashi Hiraide is een prachtige korte roman over een kat die sporadisch op bezoek komt bij een stel in Tokyo en hen veel plezier bezorgd. Een bestseller in Frankrijk en winnaar van de Japanse literaire prijs Kiyama Shohei.

A wonderful sui generis novel about a visiting cat who brings joy into a couple’s life in Tokyo
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."

Reviews
The Guest Cat is a rare treasure . . . beautiful and profound . . . whether you're a cat lover or not, don't pass this one up (NPR)

This is a gentle, thoughtful and subtly profound work . . . It's the kind of work that makes you ask of its author: "How on earth did he do that?" as you find yourself dabbing your eyes and pausing to look wistfully into the distance . . . You will want to read The Guest Cat more than once, so you notice more details - seeing as you can't do this with life (Nicholas Lezard's Paperback of the Week Guardian)

The language and descriptions are careful, elegant and lovely; while Hiraide's book is ostensibly about a cat, it is more precisely about space and ownership. The book renders an unusually intimate, detailed and vivid picture of a place that is simultaneously private and open. (New York Times)

Lyrical and captivating . . . I will revisit The Guest Cat with pleasure, much as I return to favourite poems and paintings and memories (Huffington Post)

A book genuinely worthy of bestseller status (Independent)

This moving novel is a treat for felinophiles (Guardian)

This is a charming, thoughtful little meditation on the transience of life (Summer Book Club, S Magzine)