Julia Tanaka
The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a book by Hiro Arikawa, a novelist who creates comforting books for all ages, and is about a man named Satoru travelling around Japan in his silver van to find someone to take care of his precious cat Nana. As the man and his cat travel around together in the van, each stop is a new story and a new piece to a secret. Throughout the book, there are various interesting and relatable characters with unique personalities and tales that the reader can easily digest. I definitely recommend this book to all animal lovers, people who need something to comfort them, or anyone who wants to read a 10/10 book.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles book cover
I would never have expected a huge portion of this book to be about the importance of real friendship and how they can be so meaningful in life, as the title seemed to suggest a different focus. The protagonist, Satoru, visits each of his old school friends to ask them if they can take his cat in. Each of them are very thoughtful to Satorou; trying to take Nana in and treating him with care and compassion. Although none of them were able to take in Nana, the adventure of going to the specific characters was the most important aspect of this book. They all have very special stories made with Satoru that they both share and each story brings in very warm emotions. I think friendship is very important, especially for Satoru because his mother and father passed away when he was young, and so he often relied on the friendships in his life to fill that missing void. When Satoru is diagnosed with cancer, he realises the impermanence of life and becomes a very positive, light-hearted person that makes people smile. His kindhearted soul brings people together and changes people’s perspectives from inflexible to open-minded, and he is always ready to discuss with other people about whatever they need to get off their chests.
Secondly, this book presents the relationship between animals and their owners. While one character, Kosuke, Satoru’s childhood friend, adopted a pet to bring a marriage back together, Satoru adopted Nana because he found her on the street by chance. Some characters have grown up with animals all their lives, adoring all kinds, while some seem to gradually fall in love with animals as they meet new people in the book. Overall, I enjoyed the diverse animal love portrayed in this book. The day-to-day encounters with animals, the love for one’s first pet, and the sadness of their death were all aspects of the book I believe all animal-lovers would resonate with. The specific part of the book that exhibited animal love to me was when Satoru rescued Nana, as he was a stray. Nana was just a small cat and Satoru kept seeing Nana on top of his car, laying down. Eventually, Nana broke his leg and Satoru took him to the doctor and could no longer be kept outside. As a result, Nana stayed in Satoru’s apartment and this spurred an unlikely friendship. I never understood how animals were such a big part of a human’s life and how meaningful they are in our existence. This book showed me how humans sometimes take animals for granted like Satoru’s friend, Yoshimine. He took in a stray cat but wanted to discard the cat as it was not helpful on the farm. In the end, he ended up taking care of it as it started to catch mice. The book perfectly executes the love people feel for the pets and how strong that bond can be, especially when you’re alone. Satoru was alone when his parents died, but Nana was able to be a companion for him, thus alleviating his state of isolation. After Satoru’s parents died, his aunt took him in but because of all the travelling he had to do, he never made permanent friends. Or did he?
Finally, compassion is an essential element in this book, which is the feeling of sympathy towards someone going through difficult times. I noticed this throughout and felt connected towards each character as they felt compassion towards others. Compassion is shown all throughout the book but specifically shown at the end when Satoru is very unwell and everyone around him tries to make him feel better. I believe they were compelled to do so because of the high-spirited nature Satoru was able to maintain, despite having lost his parents at a young age and being diagnosed with cancer. This made me realise that even in life’s unfairness, the people with the most heartbreaking events in their life still have the potential to be the most joyous people. I believe Satoru had the saddest story in the book, however, all of his friends were shown to go through tough times as well.
10/10 Book. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, and overall a marvellously well-written story that I will never forget. I think these kinds of books only occur once to all readers, and The Travelling Cat Chronicles is mine. Overall, this book served as a poignant reminder to not take the invaluable relationships in our lives, whether with animals or people, for granted.
Excerpt from The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Julia Tanaka