The New York Times Book Review - V. V. Ganeshananthan
The language and descriptions are careful, elegant and lovely; while Hiraide's book is ostensibly about a cat, it is more precisely about space and ownership. The book renders an unusually intimate, detailed and vivid picture of a place that is simultaneously private and open.
Publishers Weekly
★ 12/02/2013
A husband and wife explore their marriage and life together through the portentous appearance of Chibi, a neighborhood cat, in Hiraide’s newly translated short novel that has claimed prestigious awards and bestseller status in Japan and France. The couple (who go unnamed) live in a small house together without children, both working from home as freelance copyeditors, and have forgotten how to speak to one another. As Chibi comes into the picture, the husband finally begins writing his book, and the couple bonds again in mutual appreciation of the animal, though neither of them particularly like cats. This is a short and subtle story, but remarkable in the number of layers packed into the gorgeous and textured, lolling rhythm of its prose: “After watching her tiny figure leap past the mirror stand and slip through the gap in the hanging strips of cloth onto the pile of cushions in the upper shelf of the closet, I would leave her undisturbed for a while.” The novel takes a nice metafictional turn midway through, as the reader slowly begins to understand that the book the husband is writing is the book he’s narrating. This is a beautiful, ornate read, brimming with philosophical observation, humor and intelligence, leaving the reader anticipating more translated works of Hiraide. (Jan.)
The New York Times Book Review - V.V. Ganeshananthan
"An unusually intimate, detailed and vivid picture of a place that is simultaneously private and open."
Huffington Post - Nina Sankovitch
"The little feline sets off a chain of disquisitions on nature, destiny, joy, pleasure, and sorrow"
Kenzaburo Oe
"Hiraide's work really shines"
NPR - Juan Vidal
"The best novels are often the ones that change us. Over time, they stay with us- like small miracles. Takashi Hiraide, the Japanese poet and novelist, blindsided me- he shows himself to be a poet of the highest grade. A rare treasure, beautiful and profound; whether you're a cat lover or not, don't pass this one up. ultimately, it's about what it means to love and to lose. Even dog lovers will relate."
The Believer - Alan Gilbert
"What initially reads like free association turns out to be a near-microscopic record of emotion and phenomena."
The Japan Times - Paul McCarthy
"It’s clear there is a tradition of literary works centering on or featuring cats in modern Japanese, and we now have from New Directions a translation of a splendid addition to that list. (...) a work of subtleties revealed only with repeated readings. I recommend it unreservedly to the general reader."
Atmospheres
"A wonderful tale about the desire to possess and the pain of absence. And such writing! Precise, delicate, enchanting."
From the Publisher
"This is a beautiful, ornate read, brimming with philosophical observation, humor and intelligence, leaving the reader anticipating more translated works of Hiraide." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
"This is a beautiful, ornate read, brimming with philosophical observation, humor and intelligence, leaving the reader anticipating more translated works of Hiraide." —Publishers Weekly Starred Review
MARCH 2017 - AudioFile
A seemingly simple story gives way to unexpected depth in Hiraide’s international prize winner. David Shih narrates the story of a couple who rent a guesthouse outside of Tokyo to get away from the busy city. Both being writers, they work in the same house yet have become distant from each other—until the guest cat arrives. Shih’s narration gives the story a sense of the ordinariness of life while still keeping the listener engaged. Hiraide’s poetic prose is brought to life through Shih’s plainspoken voice. As the husband and wife begin to interact with the cat, their lives start to take on new meaning, until everything changes. While this is a short novel, listeners may be so charmed that they finish it and start it again immediately. A.G.M. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2013-11-24
A winner of Japan's Kiyama Shohei Literary Award captures life's ephemeral nature in a tender narrative about a Tokyo couple's attachment to a neighbor's cat. The simplest of relationships often elicit the most complex emotions, as two freelance editors discover in an eloquent tale written by poet and essayist Hiraide and translated by Selland. The husband and wife, who lease a guesthouse on the grounds of an old estate in Tokyo, have lived quietly since quitting their corporate jobs to work as independent contractors, but though they spend more time together in their tiny space, they seem to communicate less and less. The terms of their lease preclude children and pets, so the couple works in semi-isolation from their home, a section of which abuts a tall wooden fence with a knothole separating the grounds from a narrow alley. The optical illusions created by the reflections of passersby walking through the narrow lane create fleeting patterns of life that vanish into thin air, and the couple dubs the path "Lightning Alley." One day, a small cat appears in the couple's garden, and the man discovers that the young child of a neighboring family has adopted the tiny creature and named it Chibi. Though the cat doesn't belong to them, the couple develops a proprietary feeling for the cat as their lives become more centered around its visits. They begin to take joy in small pleasures as the cat, always on its own terms, slips between their neighbors' home and theirs and even explore options to remain in Chibi's life when they're told they must find a new place to live. A multifaceted tale that explores love and the fragility of life; the author creates an introspective, poetic story that's deeply moving. Cat lovers may be especially moved.
