Today Marshmallow reviews If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura, originally published in Japanese in 2012; the English translation that Marshmallow read, by Eric Selland, is dated 2019.
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books that make you truly think about life or if you just like cats, then this is the book for you!
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The narrator is never named in this book, but we know that he lives in a small town in rural Japan and that he works as a mailman. He tells you in the first page everything you need to know about him to understand how the story starts. After being diagnosed with a Stage 4 brain tumor, he is informed by his doctor that he has – at most – six months to live. He imagines responding in outrageous ways (running out of the office, screaming his head off, etc), but ends up thinking immediately about very superficial things: he was only one stamp away from getting a free massage at the local spa, he stocked up on too much toilet paper, he shouldn’t have bought so much laundry detergent last time. He leaves in somewhat of a stupor, his emotions rather suspended for a man who just received a death sentence. While he waits at the train station, he hears a small band singing a song about living in the moment and silently scoffs at their cliched idiocy. When the train takes too long, he decides to walk home instead and makes it to his door. Unfortunately, the reality of his situation sets in right as he stands in the doorway of his small, modest house and he collapses from overwhelm.
When he wakes up, he is met by his doppelganger who somehow appeared in his home. It / He introduces itself / himself as the “angel of death” or, his more widely known name, the Devil. The narrator is not impressed by his apparel. After all, he expected the Devil himself to be more intimidating; rather, he is the narrator’s twin in physical appearance but with a horrific fashion sense. Dressed in bright Hawaiian t-shirts that the narrator strongly disapproves of, the Devil gives the dying man an offer. If the narrator agrees, the Devil will make one thing disappear from the world forever each day the man’s life is extended. It’s a rather simple deal. But, obviously, there is a catch–otherwise there would be no plot. The Devil gets to choose the object that will vanish and the object (and every object like it in existence in the world) will be erased and no one will ever remember it existed at all. Only the narrator will know.
Initially, the narrator is hesitant to agree, but the Devil reveals to him that he is set to die tomorrow. He is thus forced to decide today. With the inevitability of death staring him in the face (physically and temporally), only inches away, the man agrees.
The Devil’s first choice is the phone. He allows the narrator one last phone call before they disappear and so he calls a mystery someone to meet with them tomorrow one last time. The man wakes up the next day, alive and breathing, to a world without cellphones. At first, this is not a horrible horrible change. Everyone is reading or talking on the train when they used to just stare at screens the whole ride. His meeting with a mystery someone goes somewhat well, but but his past mistakes are slowly revealed. He’s lived a simple life but relationships are rather complex regardless. His family gently broke apart until – after his mother’s death – he stopped speaking to his father entirely. He and his girlfriend similarly separated after another tragedy, exposing a pattern of poor communication.
With each day, he gains new understanding of what his life was like and what it could have been. Of course, with each added day, he also loses something. The world loses telephones completely, movies, clocks… Each day, the narrator has to grapple with the fact that he is sacrificing something that belongs to everyone to save himself. He is forced to weigh his worth and the worth of a single life and how it compares with objects no one notices until they’re gone.
Marshmallow’s Review: If Cats Disappeared from the World is such a good book that is so truly simple. I will admit, the premise might feel a little cliche at the start. There have been a lot of books, movies, and thought experiments throughout human history centered on a character who is given an unavoidable death sentence. The journey of facing and having to accept one’s mortality is a naturally fascinating thing to mortal beings. But, while this book has a rather simple premise, it still makes you think in ways you might not expect. The plot is based on a much calmer and more common scenario than most books about mortality (e.g. often the characters live in mythical lands and face death on a day-to-day basis on their swashbuckling adventures). Here, the character is a more ordinary person than most, living in a quiet town in rural Japan where everything he has done is pretty much normal. But I think the frank simplicity and the seeming normal-ness of the setting serve to make this an even more potent experience.
I think reading If Cats Disappeared from the World is somewhat like meditating. It takes the most simple things and makes you re-examine them through the eyes of a dying man, enlightening you with a greater appreciation of the quieter, lesser seen parts of life. The writing is very clear throughout the entire book and only what is necessary is included. I read the translated version of this book (the original is in Japanese) so I cannot really speak to what it would have been like in the original language. However, the book’s simple nature of overwhelming the reader through highlighting the underwhelming was very impressive.
Each chapter represents another day and is labeled with the day of the week and a related title. It helps keep things in order and makes the plot make sense. This is a very not complicated book to read so I think anyone can easily read and understand it. I think it might be worth reading it slower though so each day sinks in a little more and you have time to interpret everything and think about how it relates or applies to your own life. It can also just be read in a day as it is less than 170 pages. But I think, just like the simple things mentioned in this book, this simple book matters more than one might think and it can and should completely change your perspective on life.
I think this book has truly made me value my relationships and the simple beauties in life on a level I did not before. I think reading books that make you think deeper and feel more grateful truly increases the quality of your life. Because, while you never know how long it will be, you can determine how rich your life is by how much you appreciate it and every moment, every breath, and every memory.
Marshmallow’s Rating: 1,000%.
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