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Sosuke Natsukawa (author), Louise Heal Kawai (translator), The Cat Who Saved Books, HarperCollins, 2021. 208 pgs.
The Cat Who Saved Books starts sadly when the main character, Rintaro Natsuki, a high-school student who doesnβt go out much and doesnβt have many friends, loses his grandfather, the owner of Natsuki Books, a second-hand bookstore. The story follows a rather typical young adult fiction plot that usually involves finding oneself in an alternative world, with talking animals. In this book, Rintaro is lost after his grandfather dies, and he has nobody to turn to. His parents have split up and his mother passed away when he was young. Rintaro has no one to guide him but to find himself alone. The talking animal in this book is Tiger the Tabby who saves books that are mistreated. After Rintaroβs grandfather dies, Tiger the Tabby comes to Natsuki Books to ask for help from Rintaro. (Or rather, it is more like a command, given it comes from a cat.)
Tiger the Tabby and Rintaro start their adventures in the first labyrinth where there is a manor whose owner claims he loves and treasures his books (57,622 in total!) but imprisons them in glass cases under lock and key. The owner never re-reads any of those books and reads new ones only so as to be respected by people in society. Those books become his decorations to make himself look great. Rintaro sees right through the ownerβs love for books because his grandfather had passed his wisdom to him. βBooks have tremendous power,β Rintaroβs grandfather taught him; it is the books that have the power, not those who own them. To harness the power, one needs to think with their mind, walk with their feet, and live their lives. Otherwise, whatever is acquired through reading is just information inside oneβs head and ultimately becomes useless. Locking books in glass cases is not love; the owner actually only loves himself in order to be respected by society. As the labyrinths run on the power of truth, Rintaro frees the books in the manor when he finds that the ownerβs claim of loving books is false.
The second labyrinth brings Rintaro and Tiger the Tabby along with Rintaroβs classmate, Sayo Yuzuki, the class rep, to the Institute of Reading Research. The director of this institute is doing research to increase reading speed by chopping books into summaries. A book then becomes a few sentences. The director claims that this is to help people read more in a short period of time and meet the demands of modern society as well as prevent stories from disappearing. This statement seems to be true, but Rintaro cannot completely agree with the director because chopped-up sentences from a book are fragments. Speed-reading doesnβt allow readers to know any details. It is this point that makes Rintaro know how to convince the director that what he is doing is not helping preserve stories. Rintaro fast-forwards the music that the director is listening to, which the director finds disturbing. Finally, the director understands his endeavour is accomplishing the very opposite of what he intends to do. His realisation allows the chopped sentences to fly back to the books that they belong to, and books become whole again.
Worldβs Best Books, the worldβs number one publishing company, is the third labyrinth for Rintaro, Tiger the Tabby, and Sayo. The president of this publishing company believes that profit is everything for producing books, and books are simply expendable goods. The company publishes books that society wants, such as cheap digests and abridged versions, for people to consume efficiently. Reading confers status, the president claims. The companyβs strategy allows people to do that. All this annoys Rintaro and goes against his beliefs because a true book lover takes care of books! He then remembers that the labyrinths run on the power of truth, and he needs to identify a lie in the presidentβs words to free the books. He also remembers his grandfatherβs wisdom about money. Once you have some, you want more, and there is no end to it. Bookshops need to make a profit but also need love for books. The president keeps saying profit is everything, but in truth, he loves books because he has been making sure books survive, although in different forms. Rintaroβs keen observation once again frees the books in this publishing company, and Rintaro seems to be more grounded after going through these adventures.
There isnβt supposed to be a fourth labyrinth, but Tiger the Tabby comes to Rintaro again. This time, it is to rescue Sayo because she has been kidnapped by a woman who recreates Natsuki Books as the fourth and final labyrinth. This adventure, however, is Rintaroβs alone because Tiger the Tabby has noticed the difference in Rintaro and believes that Rintaro is stronger than their opponent in the fourth labyrinth. Rintaro steps into this conjured Natsuki Books where the woman shows him the consequences of his actions of saving books in all three labyrinths. All three of them have lost what they achieved prior to their meetings with Rintaro. The woman claims to show Rintaro the gap between idealism and reality, meaning Rintaroβs actions do not lead to positive outcomes and questions the point of what Rintaro did. Rintaro always believes what his grandfather says about books, βbooks have tremendous powerβ, but what power, exactly? βEmpathyβ is Rintaroβs answer. It allows readers to learn about other peopleβs stories that are filled with thoughts and feelings. It connects people, just like it connects this woman to Rintaro in this final labyrinth. At this point, all three people whom Rintaro met in the previous three labyrinths appear and agree with him. The woman admits defeat and sends Rintaro back to the real Natsuki Books where he finds Sayo is sleeping in his arms. After all the adventurous journeys, Rintaro has changed and is no longer lost. He finds a new identity as the new owner of Natsuki Books.
Each labyrinth symbolises the expectations of society about books and reading. Publishers want to make a profit, the more the merrier; people want to be respected if they read a lot and also want to be able to do so in a shorter period of time. In other words, reading confers status (81). Therefore, reading is not about reading itself, let alone stories, characters, or details. Rintaro, on the other hand, growing up with his grandfather, often shares his grandfatherβs wisdom, claiming that books have tremendous power. It is the kind of power that allows people to learn other peopleβs stories, details and all, and to be able to go out to the world to experience! Rintaro symbolises book lovers who handle books with great care. With this contrast, Rintaroβs encounters with the persons in the labyrinths form a dialogue about how books should be treated. This is a love letter to books, and also a criticism of the ways that modern society treats, sees, and produces books. It is also a journey of a teenage boy to find himself, knowing and accepting himself with a clear identity.
How to cite: Lu, Hui-Hua. βA Criticism of the Ways in Which Modern Society Treats, Sees, and Produces Books: Sosuke Natsukawa’s The Cat Who Saved Books.β Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 10 Apr. 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/04/10/cat-who-saved-books.
Hui-Hua Lu is an early career researcher in translation studies. She received her PhD from the University of Exeter and MA from Newcastle University. She is also a professional translator and language teacher of English and Mandarin. Her research interests include translation, literature from Taiwan, gender studies and media studies.
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