Impulse, as my library's FB book club is reading it. Charming. Gets better as it goes along, I think... I almost put it down but glad that I decided not too. Somehow brings to mind [b:Before the Coffee Gets Cold|44421460|Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)|Toshikazu Kawaguchi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560955053l/44421460._SY75_.jpg|62602162] (esp. he episodic and ever-deeper structure) and [b:Lily and the Octopus|27276262|Lily and the Octopus|Steven Rowley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499086357l/27276262._SY75_.jpg|45476016] (esp. the particular r'ship between human & pet).

Need to listen to "Necklace of Olive" which is a piece of music that the cat would name "The Special Relationship Between a Dove and a Silk Hat." ( )

Anyone who’s ever had a cat will be moved by this beautiful book. At the heart of this book is a powerful message about the importance of kindness. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.

Narrated by Nana the cat, he is on a road trip with his beloved owner, Satoru.

They visit Satoru’s childhood friends with the purpose of rehoming Nana. Satoru is not forthcoming about the reason. “We just can’t live together anymore,” he says. When you find out the reason it’ll have you grabbing for your tissues.

Hiro Arikawa’s bestselling Japanese novel features a cat with a heart who feels loyalty and gratitude and would never abandon his loving human master. ( )

Nana is a stray white cat with a black tail that forms a 7 when it rises. He likes sleeping in the sun on top of a silver van belonging to Satoru who occasionally leaves him food. When Nana is hit by a car he struggles to return to the van, the only safe place he's found. Satoru finds him, takes him to the vet and adopts him. They become inseparable.

The main story is 5 years later when Satoru is trying to find a new home for Nana and goes to visit his best friends who have indicated that they would take the cat in. At each stop we learn of Satoru's past with that person ending with Satoru not leaving the cat and travelling on to the next.

This was translated to English in 2018 originally published in Japan in 2012. Satoru is seen from the perspective of each of his friends, his aunt and Nana, the cat. This is a gem of a book, endearing and sad. ( )

I cried so much with this book, it was a truly beautiful story of courage loyalty, friendship, life and death. I don't even have words to express it, I feel changed having read this book.

From amazon:

A book that “speak[s] volumes about our need for connection—human, feline or otherwise” (The San Francisco Chronicle), The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a life-affirming anthem to kindness and self-sacrifice that shows how the smallest things can provide the greatest joy—the perfect gift for cat lovers and travellers!

We take journeys to explore exotic new places and to return to the comforts of home, to visit old acquaintances and to make new friends. But the most important journey is the one that shows us how to follow our hearts...

An instant international bestseller and indie bestseller, The Travelling Cat Chronicles has charmed readers around the world. With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe...

With his crooked tail—a sign of good fortune—and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love. ( )

I was expecting an endearing story of adventures through the eyes of a cat. I was NOT expecting the gut punch of emotion in the last quarter of the book.

The story revolves around a man who’s trying to re-home his cat because he’s ill and cats aren’t allowed in hospitals. So he travels all across Japan visiting close friends to see if his cat will get along with them. The cat, unwilling to leave his human, finds ways to sabotage his attempts until finally the man decides to keep the cat, and moves in with his aunt who helps to take care of the cat while he’s in hospital and after-the-fact.

It’s a wonderful story of a man’s love for his cat, and the cat’s love for his human. Recommended, just make sure to have a box of tissues ready. ( )