Book Review: The Travelling Cat Chronicles | Hiro Arikawa

Emotional, charming, and heartwarming. I don’t know that there is a better way to describe The Travelling Cat Chronicles other than absolutely perfect. Nana the cat charmed me and seeing the world through his eyes simply filled me with laughs, tears, and smiles. I highly recommend this book to anyone who could use some healing of the soul. It reminded me about love, and being caring, and doing something for others even if it is hard. It’s a book of lessons told in a beautiful story form. I imagine this might be the type of book that every reader experiences a little bit differently, and has a slightly different “aha!” moment from. But I can’t imagine a reader on this earth whose heart won’t warm at this beautiful book!

About the Book

“I am a cat. As yet, I have no name.”

Before he became Nana, he was a stray cat living on the streets and scrounging for food. He loved sleeping on the hood of a silver van, for it attracted the sunlight and warmed his belly, even in the cold winter. But he didn’t have a name. Not until Satoru rescued him after a car broke his leg. And eventually, though he didn’t instinctively love to be a kept cat, he became Nana and he found where he belonged.

“Our silver van was like a magic carriage. Every time I got into it, it carried me to a place I’d never been before.”

Many years later Nana is taken out into the silver van on a journey to see Satoru’s friends. Each friend they visit has a story to tell about Satoru, and their love of cats, and how Satoru changed their lives. And each person learns a story from Nana. Nana visits many places, and as long as he is with Satoru, he is so happy. But Nana doesn’t yet know the real reason for their travels.

“At that moment, we were without a doubt the greatest travelers in the world. And I was the world’s greatest traveling cat.”

Reflection

Well this is a hard book to review because I love it so much. It feels difficult to do this book justice. How many ways are there to say that this charming, magical little story will nestle into your heart and never leave. This is a book I want to reread over and over again, and continue to love and experience and learn from. This is a book about someone else’s story, but that made me think a lot about my own story.

Let’s talk first about what it is like to read a book told to you by a cat. You’d think it would be weird, and childish. It isn’t really that way at all, though! Nana’s narration has a lot of whimsy to it, but it is anything but childish. Nana is humorous and a bit surly to strangers. Growing up as a stray has helped Nana to be tough. But he is also fiercely loyal and filled with compassion. He understands what humans need in a way that humans may not always understand it themselves. I found Nana positively delightful! I could picture him, from the figure-eight shaped calico spots on his face, to his crooked tale that led to his name. Nana is a fantastic narrator and now I wonder why all books aren’t told by cats!

And then there is the story of Satoru, which in flashbacks we learn about him from a very young age, even before Nana. We never are told the story by Satoru himself. It is by Nana, and the friends he goes to visit, and his aunt. Despite this, Satoru is a character I feel that I know so well. Above all else, there is a kindness to Satoru that every single person could learn from. He is the sort of person that teaches other patience, kindness, and love by displaying it himself always and without expectation. I don’t imagine I will ever forget Satoru.

I don’t want to get too much into the specifics of the visits, because each is a delight to read and experience yourself. There are so many small stories built into the life Satoru leads that warmed my heart. And Nana learns so much as well. Nana grows as a character through love and kindness, and we see the ripple effect of Satoru’s kindness throughout the novel. This is a book filled with happiness and a few tears, and I left with a smile on my face.

“On our last journey, let’s see all kinds of amazing things. Let’s spend our time taking in as many wonderful sights as we can. That’s what I had pledged yesterday, when we set off. And what incredible sights we saw.”

Thank you to the team at Berkley for my copy.