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atamano's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Kidnapping
machetemilk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Kidnapping and Death of parent
sarah984's review
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was okay, but it was a bit disappointing to me. It's a whimsical story about a boy rediscovering his love of books with the help of a fast-talking cat and a girl from his school after his grandfather's death. Some of the ideas about books were good and I thought the cat was super fun, but the book could also be weirdly preachy at times and the girl didn't have much of a personality. I also found the translation a bit clunky and boring - the language was bland and some words were left in Japanese for no real reason. Despite the fact that people kept telling the main character that his missions were dangerous, the stakes felt low, and the ending was a bit silly.
I don't regret reading this book but I don't really think it will stick with me.
I don't regret reading this book but I don't really think it will stick with me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Kidnapping
internationalreads's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, and Death
emmagreenwood's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Grief, Death, Fatphobia, and Kidnapping
tinymatriarch's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
This might be the worst book I’ve read in a long time… It’s supposed to be a book for book lovers but all it does is come off as pretentious! I’m still giving it a 0.5 star cause of the cat and the cover art. That’s it.
Note to self (and to everyone else) : never buy a book without reading the reviews before hand.
I bought this book cause of the cover and the concept seemed nice but damn was I wrong… Imma go on a rant about it though because this book made me so mad!
This book does have a nice concept but at the same time it brings forward the old narrative that “people don’t read books anymore [insert boomer tears here]” and goes on justifying it by saying people don’t read stuff like Proust or the complete works of Shakespeare anymore?? like ok yeah my dude, cause maybe people just read other things??? It’s not cause people don’t wanna read some dusty books about philosophy that suddenly books are dying?? Every classics reference made me so enraged to the point I wanted to drop it and never pick it up again. I truly finished this book out of spite….
It also briefly mentions that maybe people don’t read anymore cause of capitalism… but then goes on blaming it on people instead of taking that opportunity to criticize the actual system.
Towards the end, it also says something like “we should appreciate books that are difficult to read because they teach us something new” and that made me wanna chuck it across the room. A book isn’t good cause it’s hard to read! And it’s okay to want to read easy stuff! Reading is supposed to be exciting and fun, not a horrendous task you put yourself through to learn new things.
It does have this nice happy ending saying that books are all about learning to care for each other but uuuugh this doesn’t cover for the pretentious attitude.
And don’t even get me started on the main character! Who still loves self proclaimed antisocial boys who make no effort to communicate and care about people around them and need to go on special adventures to learn empathy??? This isn’t 2010 anymore and antisocial tumblr boys aren’t main character material. As for the women characters, it’s like the author didn’t even try: they just seem weak, deprived of personality (being “tactless” isn’t a personality trait) and just overall badly written.
I think the translation of this book wasn’t great and probably made things worse. The sentences were choppy and didn’t flow, but I understand that Japanese is a difficile language to translate so I’ll be lenient on that.
Moral of the story:
- stop pretending people don’t read anymore, saying books are dying or whatever makes you sound entitled.
- if you unironically quote Nietzsche and call yourself antisocial, I need you to know you sound like an incel and I will punch you.
Note to self (and to everyone else) : never buy a book without reading the reviews before hand.
I bought this book cause of the cover and the concept seemed nice but damn was I wrong… Imma go on a rant about it though because this book made me so mad!
This book does have a nice concept but at the same time it brings forward the old narrative that “people don’t read books anymore [insert boomer tears here]” and goes on justifying it by saying people don’t read stuff like Proust or the complete works of Shakespeare anymore?? like ok yeah my dude, cause maybe people just read other things??? It’s not cause people don’t wanna read some dusty books about philosophy that suddenly books are dying?? Every classics reference made me so enraged to the point I wanted to drop it and never pick it up again. I truly finished this book out of spite….
It also briefly mentions that maybe people don’t read anymore cause of capitalism… but then goes on blaming it on people instead of taking that opportunity to criticize the actual system.
Towards the end, it also says something like “we should appreciate books that are difficult to read because they teach us something new” and that made me wanna chuck it across the room. A book isn’t good cause it’s hard to read! And it’s okay to want to read easy stuff! Reading is supposed to be exciting and fun, not a horrendous task you put yourself through to learn new things.
It does have this nice happy ending saying that books are all about learning to care for each other but uuuugh this doesn’t cover for the pretentious attitude.
And don’t even get me started on the main character! Who still loves self proclaimed antisocial boys who make no effort to communicate and care about people around them and need to go on special adventures to learn empathy??? This isn’t 2010 anymore and antisocial tumblr boys aren’t main character material. As for the women characters, it’s like the author didn’t even try: they just seem weak, deprived of personality (being “tactless” isn’t a personality trait) and just overall badly written.
I think the translation of this book wasn’t great and probably made things worse. The sentences were choppy and didn’t flow, but I understand that Japanese is a difficile language to translate so I’ll be lenient on that.
Moral of the story:
- stop pretending people don’t read anymore, saying books are dying or whatever makes you sound entitled.
- if you unironically quote Nietzsche and call yourself antisocial, I need you to know you sound like an incel and I will punch you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
laurareads87's review
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The Cat Who Saved Books follows Rintaro, a young boy who has recently lost his grandfather; he is in the process of closing the second-hand bookshop his father operated and in which he'd spent many many hours reading... until a talking tabby cat named Tiger turns up and whisks him away on a series of adventures.
I find this book very hard to rate. There are quite a few things I appreciate about it: it's whimsical + Tiger's quite funny, and I feel like Rintaro's grief is depicted in a nuanced, respectful way. I also feel like the book asks some valuable questions -- about how to address the use of old texts to promote harmful ideologies, about what happens to a book when it is abridged beyond recognition, about the value of books that aren't bestsellers or popular / the value of books beyond the money they make for publishers -- while leaving room for the reader to consider how these questions play out in their own life.
One thing about this book didn't really work for me though. I recognize that I may be missing some context here as a non-Japanese reader, but I found myself frustrated that all of the books mentioned and celebrated in this book are Western classics. I don't think the intention of the text was to suggest that this canon -- which is not even a little bit diverse -- is somehow inherently better than other books, but I could definitely see a reader reaching that conclusion, which I think would be unfortunate.
I find this book very hard to rate. There are quite a few things I appreciate about it: it's whimsical + Tiger's quite funny, and I feel like Rintaro's grief is depicted in a nuanced, respectful way. I also feel like the book asks some valuable questions -- about how to address the use of old texts to promote harmful ideologies, about what happens to a book when it is abridged beyond recognition, about the value of books that aren't bestsellers or popular / the value of books beyond the money they make for publishers -- while leaving room for the reader to consider how these questions play out in their own life.
One thing about this book didn't really work for me though. I recognize that I may be missing some context here as a non-Japanese reader, but I found myself frustrated that all of the books mentioned and celebrated in this book are Western classics. I don't think the intention of the text was to suggest that this canon -- which is not even a little bit diverse -- is somehow inherently better than other books, but I could definitely see a reader reaching that conclusion, which I think would be unfortunate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
house_of_hannah's review
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This ended up being a cute story with some good messages that anyone can read. The writing is very simple and straightforward, so it's appropriate for all ages. There are several good quotes in here as well, and I like how it got me thinking a bit.
The characters themselves aren't particularly interesting, and feel a bit generic. The meat of the story is actually more in the dialogue. There are four quests, or labyrinths as they are called in the book, that guide us into analyzing aspects of our lives. There are themes on compassion, empathy, and love, so I'm leaving this book with a warm, cozy feeling.
Overall, I think this is a perfect winter read. However, I don't ever want to hear the word hikikomori ever again. 😅
The characters themselves aren't particularly interesting, and feel a bit generic. The meat of the story is actually more in the dialogue. There are four quests, or labyrinths as they are called in the book, that guide us into analyzing aspects of our lives. There are themes on compassion, empathy, and love, so I'm leaving this book with a warm, cozy feeling.
Overall, I think this is a perfect winter read. However, I don't ever want to hear the word hikikomori ever again. 😅
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death and Kidnapping
imrereads's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's hard to rate this book. There were parts I absolutely loved, and others I found uninteresting or unimportant. I love the voice of Tiger the Tabby!
It stikes me as a very Japanese book. There's something about Japanese literature that is very matter of fact, despite fantadtical elements, and I love that.
I do wish the cat had played an even larger role, and I personally found the romance misplaced.
All in all a mostly enjoyable book though!
It stikes me as a very Japanese book. There's something about Japanese literature that is very matter of fact, despite fantadtical elements, and I love that.
I do wish the cat had played an even larger role, and I personally found the romance misplaced.
All in all a mostly enjoyable book though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, and Grief
jenniferpalmblad's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Kidnapping
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