The Travelling Cat Chronicles

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

"Anyone who has ever unashamedly loved an animal will read this book with gratitude, for its understanding of an emotion that ennobles us as human beings, whether we value it or not," so writes Lynne Truss in her excellent review of the book in The Guardian.  

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/17/travelling-cat-chronicles-hiro-arikawa-review

At its simplest level it is a 'delightful tale of loyalty and friendship' , so writes John Boyne in Irish Times. 

Amazon says:

It's not the journey that counts, but who's at your side.Nana the cat is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn’t know why and Satoru won’t say.

Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana’s story explores the wonder and thrill of life’s unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. TRAVELLING CAT has already demonstrated its power to move thousands of readers with a message of kindness and truth. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.

'Arikawa has a lightness of touch that elevates her story to a tale about loyalty and friendship ... while speaking to our basic human need for companionship'  

What I thought:

Preamble:  I have been the owner of three cats during my life.  All very different and my parting from each was different.  Kitty the black cat, who came to live with us when I was pregnant with our first child (46 years ago), lived into old age until she suffered a stroke and it was kindest to ease her out of life.  Taffy, the beautiful ginger and white cat turned up on my doorstep.  He was young, barely a year the vet thought, and despite a phone call to the local police station and the Cats' Protection League, I did not find out from where he came.  Sadly he was run over in the road right in front of our house when he was about 6.  I wept buckets when I buried him at the top of the garden.

And then there was Rooney.  Ah...... dear Rooney, he lives on but not with me.  I had promised myself a cat when I completed my PhD in 2004 and so I sought a kitten through the good offices of our local vet, and as it turned out the veterinary nurse there had a female cat expecting kittens.  Rooney was born in June, one of a litter of 3: 2 male tabbies and a black female.

 Not long after he came to live with us we bought out house in France.  I had him vaccinated against Rabies and he travelled back and forth across the Channel with us for 6 years.  I thought he coped with this quite well; the only time he showed distress was when he had to endure a car journey trapped in his basket.  On the ferry he would hunker down in his basket and sleep the crossing out.  Upon arrival at either home, he settled into St Vaast and Winterborne Kingston readily.  True the day of departure, or the day before, would be somewhat stressful as we would have to trap him in a room so he should not disappear at the critical moment.

And then, through a set of circumstances, there arrived a moment when our granddaughters' desire to have a kitten, and Nick's need to liberate Rooney and himself from the rigours of travelling with a cat, conspired to bring about Rooney's move to Hackney in 2011.  Rooney is now 14 and lives a contented life with our son's family.  They love him dearly and he has no doubt made the enclave of walled gardens which form a core within the the streets of houses there, his own.  But when I see him I realise how much I would love a cat in my life again and like to think that in time there will be a fourth.

So Arikawa's books was bound to find favour with me and what reviews I have read seem not to make much of is the degree to which, through giving Nana a voice, she shows an understanding of the body language of cats, little items of behaviour, their contrariness and from this to deduce what makes a cat tick.

I did not guess where the story might be going, but looking back, of course the signs were there in the text.  Prepare to shed a tear.