If Cats Disappeared from the World

Oh my heart.

So, getting out ahead of the big question my friends will have – it does have a cat in it, but the cat is not a main character nor a main player in the story. I mean, it is, but it also isn't. The main character has a cat, and the cat does play a role in the last third or so of the book, but this book is not about the cat, per se.

This is a short book about dying, coming to terms with your death, and being able to look at your life in retrospect. Our narrator (whose name I don't think is ever mentioned) has been given a terminal diagnosis and left to put his affairs in order. But how do you put your affairs in order when you live alone, are estranged from family, have no real close friends, and own a cat? Who do you contact about this, when you don't think anyone would care? The question is briefly taken out of our narrator's hands, however, when the literal Devil appears to give him a bargain – one more day of life in exchange for one thing removed from the world. But like most bargains with the Devil, this one has strings.

This one tugged at my heart strings, and honestly hit a little close to home about personal fears of mine. It's a short read, but really powerful, I think, and covers a lot of heavy topics in a fairly easy-to-read fashion. It made me think a lot about what I'd be leaving behind in the same situation – though I think I'd pass up dealing with the Devil.

This book had a nice, quirky concept but its execution was weak.

Our protagonist is informed of his impending death and offered a deal with the devil: for every extra day he is alive, he needs to choose something that will totally disappear from the world. From this setup, I was expecting to read heart-wrenching moral dilemmas about the ethics of making things disappear for the whole world while wanting to eke out a few more moments out of life. I also thought I would be getting a deep exploration of grief when confronted so directly with one's own mortality. Instead, it was pretty blah.

The main character is selfish and apathetic and doesn't seem to consider any opinions, thoughts or feelings outside of his own when choosing the things that can disappear. Granted, by the end, the devil is the one choosing which things disappear (no surprise here, he is the devil after all). However, even then he should have considered what it would mean when he accepted the bargain. For example, when he is considering whether or not to make movies disappear, he doesn't seem to think about what that absence would mean for his ex-girlfriend - who loves movies so much she now lives above a cinema. What would the absence of movies mean for her? Will she forever feel incomplete? He neither considers no cares about what the answers to these questions are. The protagonists self-centredness would be okay if the book was seeking to highlight how inherently selfish humans really are, but by the end, we are supposed to buy the idea that humans are actually selfless because the protagonist cannot bring himself to make cats disappear. However, even that final decision is selfish, he doesn't decide to keep cats around because he's thinking of other people, he seems to do it because of the sentimental value cats hold for him . Besides, he hardly seems remorseful for the other things he made disappear.

Additionally, there seem to be no real-world implications for the things that disappear. How did the world not come grinding down to a halt when the clocks disappeared. What happened to all the people who worked in phone manufacturing, or in the movie industry, or even in the clock industry. Millions of people must supposedly have woken up unemployed. How did the world simply go on, when big changes had been made. I think this concept would have worked better if each bargain gave him an additional 2 months - 1 year, then he could really sit with and consider the impacts of his decisions, see how the world was different because of the self-interested choices he had made.

This book promised to deliver one man's journey of self-discovery, but in my opinion, it fell short.

Didn't expect much tbh, but it was a beautifully written (and translated!) novel. As an international student who is continents apart from both my mum AND my cat, this felt closer to home than usual TT. The pacing was great too and I was fully immersed to the point of reading it in one sitting. Solid 4*

It's a hell of a handsell. A 30 year old postman is diagnosed with a brain tumour with days to live when the devil appears to make him a deal. He's already fashioned an end of life bucket list but it ultimately feels an empty practice, seeking novelty when that's not what he's really after. The devil instead offers an extra day of life in exchange for him agreeing to something in the world disappearing. You've read the title - you see where this is going.

It's a sweet, gauzy lensed story filled with swelling music and heartfelt tears that I'm not opposed to. I can appreciate it when it's done well, even if it's clearly manipulative —but this felt a little rote and by the book for my tastes. And that's even with the addition (or possible subtraction) of cats.

I'm going to assume that much was lost in translation from the original Japanese. The retelling in letter form also distanced me from the narrative, to the point where most of the novella left me cold. If it was a short story focused on just the importance of cats to this young man's life, I think it would have had more emotional impact, but I felt like I was reading a lot of subpar filler, platitudes and cliches, around that core truth.

Effort was made to tug at the heart strings regarding the protagonist's relationship with each of his parents and ex-girlfriend, but I don't think enough space/background was provided to be truly invested in the outcome of those relationships. 

On to the annoying: 

∆Dragging out illness or death scenes is a cheap trick to try and elicit emotional response from the reader, especially when the writing is not good enough to feel anything but poorly manipulated. 

∆Proclaiming that ‘only humans love' is bound to irk your vegan readership. 

⚠️Death, terminal illness, animal death

This novel about someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness gave this reader a lot to think about. However, what I thought had nothing in common with the thoughts of a 36-year-old, Japanese mailman, the main character. Oddly enough, he was never named, which I didn't notice while reading the book.

His deal with the devil allows him an extra day of life, providing the mailman agrees to eliminate from the world an item of the devil's choosing. The mailman seems to agree to eliminate items that will directly effect friends and family more than himself. He never mentions how they will impact the world adversely. He only seems to think of ways that it will make the world a better place. Maybe, in order to live another day, it helps the mailman to think this way. For example, the first item is a phone. We can all think of ways that eliminating phones might improve our lives. However, in an emergency, what would you do without a phone?

As the title suggests, cats are eventually selected as something to disappear from the world. Amazingly, this effects the mailman directly—not to mention his cat, Cabbage.

This thought-provoking little book is definitely worth the short time it takes to read it. Your mind will wander places it never has before and maybe places you don't want to go, but should.

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
Audiobook Platform: Hoopla
Narrator: Brian Nishii

What if you were going to die soon? What if you had spent your life rarely considering others? What if the devil appeared and offered a bargain to give you one more day of life in exchange for getting rid of something in the world? Would you take the bargain?

The premise of this book is one that most of us have thought about at one time or another. If we had the chance to make things right, would we try? Would we be able to fix our relationships with others? Tell them how much we love them and what they mean to us? I think we all would like to think so. This book tells the story of how taking the devil's bargain impacts one man and the world around him. He learns what he is willing to give up and what he values most. I loved this book and the simplicity of it. It was a quick listen, with Brian Nishii's narration calming with the perfect change of tone for each character.