Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - De kat die bleef

Did not expect this book to break my heart - at least not the way it did. My favourite were the last three stories. These were also the same stories that destroyed my heart.

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chris_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Really great, though not quite at The Traveling Cat Chronicles level. (I think I just prefer novels.) Though the titular story did make me cry. The others were all good, and she implements it masterfully, but there's only so far you can go with this premise. I would be interested to read what Arikawa has to offer outside the subject.

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ciaomaya's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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modern_cryptid's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing sad slow-paced

3.0

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harley_dean's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It's pretty cute. I wasn't aware it was a short story collection until I finished the first story, which the entire book is titled after, and at first I was a bit gutted because I was kinda of hoping for a story continuing off of that first one, but in the end I still enjoyed all this. Not all the stories are as good as each other, but they're still all good, and I really like that the last two are connected. I do wish I loved this book as much as I'd originally imagined I would, but it's okay, still very cute and I technically got what I asked for: a book about cats.

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teddie_valetine98's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

These stories are so stinking cute!

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katieg4's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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jstilts's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This is a collection of short stories that vary in quality and interest, so a bit hard to give a useful star rating. Some of the stories are little gems, some so-so, the final story I almost skipped (but glad I didn't).

The stories all explore family life as affected by cats, usually at least partly from the cats perspective. Maybe, being a Japanese translation, the directions the stories take or fail to take are a little surprising to this western reader (the first especially so). For some reason the majority of these tales depict the fathers as being buffoons or jerks, which wears a little thin - but overall they are interesting insights into Japanese family life.

Be warned, there are a few sad tales.

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