The Cat who saved Books Reading and Redemption

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Cat Who Saved Books

Sosuke Natsuawa 

New York, Picador 2021

A young boy, Rintaro, finds his world falling apart when his grandfather, the owner of Natsuki Books died suddenly leaving him a second hand boo store filled with the Classics. Enter Tiger the Tabby and the boy discovers his inner strength and realizes the redemptive power of compassion, love and the quest for peace through the pursuit of knowledge and books. The book shop tucked in a corner of an unnamed city in Japan is a portal that opens up to a parallel universe in which Books are trapped and Tiger  the Orange Tabby wants Rintaro's help to save them. What follows in an allegorical tale, plainly told but redolent with wisdom and at time deeply moving in its intense description of greed, power and self love.

The Cat presents himself without ceremony, "The name is Tiger the tabby" he says with his triangular ears and piercing eyes. Books have been imprisoned declared that Cat and Rintaro Natsuki is tasked to rescue them and the Cat adds rather mysteriously that should he fail in the task he would be trapped in a timeless labyrinth. Aware of the tremendous power of books, Rintaro hold up the futility of hoarding knowledge as an end in itself and there by rescues the books hoarded in giant cavernous halls. The books saved from imprisonment by the power of truth that resides in one who truly loves them, A lesson learnt from his grandfather.

Labyrinth Two is far more complex and it concerns the appropriation of knowledge by those claiming to understand books and see to distort the meaning by imposing their misguided interpretations on the books they read. Is the author taking a swipe at the current fashion of Deconstruction which has taken the literary world by storm. There is no text only readers. And readers have no objective standards by which to judge the meaning of what they read. "The style is free from any individuality, expressions are deliberately kept to those in common usage--the passages are touched up to achieve the utmost plainness and simplicity." Interpretation is a supreme act of power and true meaning eludes the reader as interpretation is ultimately grounded in innate wisdom not the technicalities of language, grammar and rhetoric.

And finally Labyrinth Three is a metonym for the power and élan of the publishing industry which has grown so huge and gargantuan that it can claim to be the final arbiter of human knowledge, taste and political opinion. Publishing books and making huge profits is the only aim of  mega corporations and human well being is not promoted by men motivated by economic interests. Rintaro now faces an adversary who does not love books.

The Cat who saved books is a story that teaches empathy and compassion and above all the immense power books have in making the world what it is today. I enjoyed this book and strongly recommend this book.