IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD

Book Name: IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD

Author : Genki Kawamura (in Japanese), Translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland

Publisher : Picador, 2018; Pages 202

                                 

Review by Indra Mani Lal

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Excerpts

* And there I was. I mean, it was me, standing there, looking at me. Or someone who looked just like me. The word ‘doppelganger’ sprang to my mind … I read something about this sort of thing in a book ages ago. It’s another you who appears when you’re about to die. Had I finally gone crazy, or was my time already up ? My head was starting to spin, but I managed to keep it together. I decided to tackle head on whatever it was standing before me.

* And then, I made a promise to God. I said, whenever these humans decide to get rid of something, as a reward, I’ll extend their life for one day. I was given the power to do that. So after that, I did a lot of searching. You know for people I could do business with.

* Aloha looked so pathetic, pleading, as he was. His eyes began to well up with tears. It looked like he’d really taken a shine to chocolate. Stealthily, while he thought I wasn’t looking, he grabbed a few more of the chocolates and stuffed them into his mouth, savouring the taste.

* It was a weekday so it was packed. Normally, all of the passengers would be looking at their phones. But today was different. Instead, people were reading books, listening to music, or staring outside at the scenery. People seemed to have no trouble finding something to fill their free time. Their facial expressions seemed cheerful, somehow.

* After we had been seeing each other for about six months, I took her home to meet my parents. My father didn’t even come out of his shop to say hello, but my mother really took to her. Mom served cake and then cooked a meal, and then served more cake after that. She wouldn’t let her go home !

* OK, so I realise it was a bit late in the day to be waxing lyrical about hobbies (I mean with the whole death thing and all), but I’d bought so many DVD’s … what a waste. And I just bought new box set of Stanley Kubrick and Star Wars.

* OK, just thought I’d throw these in for comparison. Let’s say there’s no more coffee or comics. Life would go on. I’m sure I could live without Starbucks caffe lattes. And comics? It would be hard, but I could do without AKIRA, Doraemon, or Slam Dunk if it meant my life.

* If my life were a film, it would have to find a way of showing my changing perspective. That’s to say, how I see my own life has changed over time. I would feel affection for scenes that I’d hated before, and laugh during scenes where I’d originally cried. The past love interest is now long forgotten.

* When you think about it, people sleep, wake up, work, and eat according to the established set of rules we call time. In other words, we set our lives by the clock. Human beings went to the trouble of inventing rules that imposed limits on their lives, boxing them up into hours, days, and years. And then they invented clocks to make time’s rule over us even more precise.

* If I disappeared from the world … I tried to imagine what it would be like. I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have ever happened. Everyone dies eventually. The fatality rate is 100%. So when you think about it in that way, whether it’s a happy death or an unhappy death depends on how you’ve lived your life.

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My take : An interesting story of a young man whom the doctor has given only few months of life. The Devil comes in, offering incentives for each day of life extension. How he decides what is life worth living for, and separates what can be lived without, from what is held dear. He goes over his life, meets his ex girl friend, tries to see a last movie, etc. An enjoyable book that makes you think.

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Subject type : Fiction

Narrative Style : First person incident narrating

Readability: Excellent, keeps the flow

Reader’s Interest : Maintained, eager to know what happened next

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