THE PUBLISHER SAYS:
It was the end of summer, 1977. I found a cat, a little ball of fluff. A teeny tiny baby kitten.
The perfect gift for cat lovers: a beloved Japanese modern classic about how cats can change our lives.
For
the last twenty years, Japanese readers have been falling in love with
the late poet and prize-winning author Mayumi Inaba’s story of life with
her cat Mii, after she rescued her as a newborn kitten from a riverbank
in Tokyo.
We follow their everyday joys through the seasons, as
Mayumi develops her career as a writer and finds her feet in life, with
her small feline always at her side.
Mornings With My Cat Mii lovingly
chronicles Mayumi and Mii’s unshakeable twenty-year bond, meditating on
solitude, companionship, the writing life, and how we care for our cats
as they grow older.
Translated into English for the first time
by world-renowned translator Ginny Tapley Takemori, this beloved
Japanese modern classic is a celebration of how a cat can change our
lives forever.
Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
MY REVIEW:
In recent years there have been numerous cat-themed Japanese books published in translation, and I was expecting more of the same. That would not necessarily have been a bad thing – I love cats and I love Japanese fiction. However, this book was not what I was expecting. It is a memoir rather than a novel, and it documents the author’s twenty-year relationship with her cat, Mii.
As such, there is no sugar-coating, it is very matter of fact, and the reader is not spared at any point.
At first I found it interesting and engaging – Inaba goes out of her way to find a property that will allow her to accommodate the cat she rescues, and she charts her own decline when her marriage fails with great honesty. But I became aware that despite the lengths she goes to for Mii, there is sometimes a lack of warmth depicted in the relationship and I could not detect any deep connection between them. This is highlighted a few times, such as when Inaba tells us that it makes her laugh to see Mii stuck up high, terrified and in need of help, and that she makes her wait longer to be rescued as it entertains her. At times she appears to be neglectful towards Mii as well – the early incident when the cat falls pregnant is one example, and at other points when Mii is suffering.
The latter part of the book is quite hard going to be honest. The descriptions of the medical care given to Mii by both Inaba and the vet are disturbing. Don’t get me wrong, they are a big part of the story, and most people with very elderly cats will have had some experience of similar conditions – I have myself. I am not suggesting the author should have left this out, but to my taste the descriptions are over-the-top – both over-detailed and over-long.
I thought it was strange that despite the personal lengths Inaba is prepared to go to when attending to Mii’s toilet needs at the end of her life, she is not always mindful of whether the cat has any quality of life and never appears to consider whether Mii should be put out of her misery, even after the cat has stopped eating and drinking. Each case is of course unique, but it is selfish and cruel to prioritise our desire to hold onto our pets over their suffering. In this case, Mii is allowed to deteriorate until she becomes skin and bone, and I feel she could – and should – have had a more dignified ending. That said, since reading the book I have been made aware that vets in Japan, even now, are sometimes reluctant to euthanise, and I didn't take that into consideration at the time.
Ginny Tapley Takemori is a fabulous translator and I really wanted to like this book – and I did find it an interesting meditation on life, death, and the complex demands and responsibilities of pet ownership. I also really appreciated the poetry. However, I cannot say I enjoyed reading the latter part of the book at all.
(Thanks to Vintage Books for the ARC copy)
OUT OCTOBER 2024 FROM VINTAGE BOOKS You can pre-order HERE
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