Hiro Arikawa, the bestselling author of the charming and heartwarming book The Travelling Cat Chronicles, now has a follow-up compendium of short stories called The Goodbye Cat. Like her previous novel, this book is translated by Philip Gabriel, who has translated work for Haruki Murakami, Kenzaburō Ōe, and Senji Kuroi. In these seven stories, Arikawa demonstrates how cats become indelible parts of the family, as their contributions go far and beyond just being cute balls of fur.
In the story “Bringing Up Baby,” Arikawa shows how cats can inspire people to be the best version of themselves. A hopelessly disorganized father-to-be manga artist starts to get his act together when he discovers an abandoned kitten in a closed cardboard box at the local recycling center a few weeks before the birth of his newborn daughter. To his wife’s surprise, the orange tabby (not their baby daughter) draws out a responsible version of her husband and helps him stumble upon new opportunities that reignite his career.
Though cats can have direct positive influences on their owners, some have a more subtle impact, even on incorrigible people like the father in “Good Father/Bad Father.” His idiosyncratic interests, behavior, and insensitive comments often made his family members cringe. His sudden decision to adopt a lost kitten found in the middle of a busy road surprised his family. Though the father lacked a nurturing sensibility, the cat developed an uncanny attachment to him, softening in ever so slight a fashion this thick-skinned and thoughtless father.
Cats are sometimes seen as selfish creatures, but Arikawa surmises that cats, too, can remember and harbor lifetime feelings of gratitude in “Cat Island.” Ryo tags along with his stepmom Haruko on a work assignment his father has on Taketomijima in Okinawa, known to the locals as Cat Island. During moments to himself, Ryo is visited by a mysterious old woman who queries about his parents’ happiness. She tells him how Haruko’s and his dad’s fate became intertwined with that of a clumsy cat on that same island, a cat who may still be around, watching over them.
They are also capable of lifelong love, as depicted in the namesake story “The Goodbye Cat.” Kota Sakuraba is a cat who wishes to become a nekomata, a type of yokai that has a split tail. He wishes to become a supernatural spirit because of his love for Hiromi, the youngest son in the family household. Domestic cats can turn into nekomata after living a long life, so Kota is determined to live as long as he can to reach nekomata status so that he can be a lifelong companion for Hiromi.
Arikawa saves what is arguably the two best stories for last: “Finding Hachi” and “Life Is Not Always Kind.” These two stories revisit the realm of her previous novel but give different angles to stories readers had thought they were already familiar with. “Finding Hachi” is about Satoru’s childhood cat. Satoru never sees Hachi again once he moves in with his aunt after his parents’ death, but readers will be privy into Hachi’s life. “Life Is Not Always Kind” is like the lost chapter of Satoru’s journey as he tries to find a new home for Nana. Here, he visits a professor he once had an argument with that drove a wedge between them.
Once again, Arikawa breathes renewed life into cats by giving them the intelligence to observe human behavior and understand human speech. Though cats are not always the main protagonists in these stories, Arikawa shows the profound contributions cats can make in a person’s or family’s life and the invaluable impact humans can have on any cat, be that a stray or helpless kitty. Though these stories do not reach the caliber of her previous book, they are sure to amuse and entertain cat lovers and people who love animals in general.
