The Blanket Cats
by Kiyoshi Shigematsu
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Description
"Utterly charming . . . I would read a hundred of these stories." —Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright CreaturesSeven struggling customers are given the unique opportunity to take home a "blanket cat" . . . but only for three days, the time it’ll take to change their lives.
A peculiar pet shop in Tokyo has been known to offer customers the unique opportunity to take home one of seven special cats, whose "magic" is never promised, but always received. show more But there are rules: these cats must be returned after three days. They must eat only the food supplied by the owner, and they must travel to their new homes with a distinctive blanket.
In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven customers, each of whom is hoping a temporary feline companion will help them escape a certain reality, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.
But like all their kind, the "blanket cats" are mysterious creatures with unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn't really what they need. Three days may not be enough to change a life. But it might just change how you see it.. Literature. Fiction. show less
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Member Reviews
In this Japanese work, cats can be rented for three days. They come with an accompanying blanket which helps them adapt to different environments because it is a familiar object and has their own scent. Each person who adopts a cat has a different reason for doing so for a short time. Some are more successful in their efforts than others. I preferred We'll Prescribe You a Cat to this work. I'll be honest. I just didn't "get" some of the stories. I'm sure it is something cultural that didn't translate well without further explanation, but it sill just didn't work that well for me.
Contemporary Japanese literature with magical realism focusing on cats as a form of therapy is one of my favourite genres. love this book
Definitely not as good as We'll Prescribe You a Cat. Pretty depressing in fact.
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Japanese Literature
230 works; 40 members
Fiction: Classics, Literary, Short Stories
85 works; 1 member
Fiction: Asia
85 works; 2 members
Author Information
31+ Works 268 Members
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Blanket Cats
- Original title
- ブランケット・キャッツ
- Original publication date
- 2008-02 (JPN|Asahi Shimbun Publishing) (JPN | Asahi Shimbun Publishing); 2011-02 (JPN|Asahi Bunko) (JPN | Asahi Bunko); 2024 (ENG|MacLehose Press) (ENG | MacLehose Press)
- Important places
- Tokyo, Japan
- Original language
- Japanese
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 895.63 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Japanese Japanese fiction
- LCC
- PL875.5 .H54 .B53 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Japanese language and literature Japanese literature
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 180
- Popularity
- 181,794
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.22)
- Languages
- English, French, Italian, Japanese
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 2
