I am a Cat: Volume I

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I usually find Soseki to be quite moving and/or humorous, but I actually found this story to be a little boring. This book focuses on a feline protagonist who observes humans and remarks upon how silly/frivolous/stupid humanity seems to be. This shtick seems like it would provide a very effective vehicle for satire/social commentary, but the conversations that the cat eavesdrops on are maybe a little too absurd/heavy-handed? It's very possible that a lot of the nuance was lost upon translation, but I don't know... This is only the first volume of a three volume series, and I intend to finish reading the other two, but my hopes aren't terribly high.

This book turned out to be dreadful! I bought this book because I just finished reading the book, Kokoro, by the same author. I thought this book, which started out as a humorous tale, narrated by a cat, and telling of two other cat characters would be much better. It quickly deteriorated into the prattle of the cat's master and two other human friends. The story became more and more intolerable until near the ending where the main topic, which I did not find humorous at all was whether one of the three human friends should marry the daughter of a woman with a hooked nose.

I have learned that this is Volume I of a three-volume series. I'll happily forego reading the other two volumes. I already know the ending of Volume III since it show more was already divulged, for what reason I don't know, in the introduction to Volume I.

I gave this book two stars because the main cat character was a good one. The author should have stuck to the cats and left all of the humans out of this tale. show less

Het boek is geschreven vanuit de optiek van een kat, die komisch commentaar levert op de gewoonten en eigenaardigheden van zijn eigenaar en andere Japanse tradities en gebruiken in het dagelijks leven in het enegentiende eeuwse Japan.