Get Started On The Guest Cat Written By Eric Selland Issued In Paper Edition

spring breeze at dawn
Takashi Hiraide's words
Like dewdrops on cat's whiskers,


I still can recall the expression on my students faces when I explained the rules of writing haiku poems to them, It was a mixture of bewilderment and incredulity, They seemed to be asking: you must be joking, its sure not enough to be called a poem! I think the kids reaction is similar to many adults.
Especially nowadays, when we live so fast that immortalizing moments and stopping for a

while just to admire cherry blossoms or to gaze at a hairy caterpillar, seem pretty eccentric activities.


I guess some readers of The Guest Cat' might feel like my students because this book is similar to haiku, Its structure is different of course, as it is a short novel, actually something in between a novel an an essay, but Takashi Hiraide ponders on moments too.
The narrator declares: I want to somehow grasp every detail of the events of that day, that one day like a tiny dewdrop, . . but now its all engulfed in the profound darkness of time, ' Like all haiku poets, Hiraide saves moments from oblivion, As Lucien Stryk states in the introduction to 'On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho' : The effect is one of spareness, yet the reader is aware of a microcosm related to transcendent unity.
A moment, crystallized, distilled, snatched from times flow, and that is enough,

The Guest Cat', full of such 'crystallized, distilled, snatched from times flow' moments, is a story about a childless Japanese couple in their midthirties who get acquainted with their neighbours cat, Chibi.
To make things even more interesting, neither the narrator nor his wife particularly likes cats at the beginning, You probably have already figured out what happens next, As time flies, we witness the growth of their friendship with Chibi, Well, the word friendship is not the perfect choice here: as you can guess, bit by bit the cat wraps the couple around her velveteen paw.
No wonder! Christopher Hitchens observes: Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god.
Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.
Chibi proves that Hitchens is right,

The Guest Cat' shimmers with a delicate sense of humour but there are heartbreaking moments as well, full of anger and grief, The story of the cat interweaves with musings on other topics, for example literature, art, Niccolo Machiavelli, philosophy, I found the digressions interesting but I didnt enjoy them as much as the passages on Chibi,

Takashi Hiraide's subtlety reminds me of stroking luscious, cool silk, He writes with elegance and lightness, which according to Basho, the haiku master from theth century, is one of the most important elements of poetry.
He called it karumi. In Basho's opinion a good poem should seem light as a shallow river flowing over its sandy bed, This is exactly the impression I had while reading The Guest Cat, It felt as if Hiraide didn't use a keyboard to write his novel but a delicate, soft brush,

By the way, Basho wrote haiku poems about cats, for instance:
Now cats done
mewing, bedrooms
touched by moonlight.
'

Takashi Hiraide seems to have the sensitivity of a perceptive artist, The Guest Cat reminded me of Japanese and Chinese paintings, which I adore, Chibi turned out to be a superb model, The images of her clothed in moonlight, rolling in the plum blossoms, sleeping on the sofa like a talisman curled gently in the shape of a comma and dug up from a prehistoric archaeological site, still stay with me.
For the narrator and his wife observing Chibi is not only a sheer pleasure, it turns out to be thoughtprovoking also, The cat teaches them to appreciate and understand the things they paid no attention to before,

I think The Guest Cat will be especially enjoyed by the readers who used to have a pet or are pet owners, The narrators wife confesses: For me, Chibi is a friend with whom I share an understanding, and who just happens to have taken on the form of a cat.
' If you can relate to that, chances are you will like the novel by Takashi Hiraide as much as I did,


'Young Cat Sleeping Under Flowering Saxifrage' by Maruyama Ōkyo, Upozorenje broj: Ne uzimajte ovu knjigu u ruke ako ne volite mačke,
Upozorenje broj: Čitanje započinjete na sopstvenu odgovornost ako previše volite mačke i osetljivi ste na njih i njihove tužne sudbine.

Ja spadam u ovu drugu kategoriju i nekoliko puta sam bila na ivici suza, jer mi se slična situacija dogodila pre nekoliko godina.

Naime, roman je napisan u, licu i priča prati mladi bračni par u čiju se kuću useljava komšijska mačka Ćibi, Nikada nisu ostvarili kontakt sa njom, uvek ostaje neka vrsta misterioznog bića sa drugog sveta, ali im se lagano uvlači pod kožu i život bez nje postaje izlišan.
Svideli su mi se elementi misterioznog i magijskog, koji se vezuju za lik mačke,
Roman se da pročitati za jedno posle podne i svakako mu treba dati šansu,.
Slatka knjižica, ali ništa više od toga zaista, Autor je na kraju pokušao da zavara čitaoca ostavljajući ga da razmišlja u pokušaju da opravda prethodnihstrana ničega, Da me ne shvatite pogrešno, ja sam uživala, ušuškani opisi japanskog naselja, život jednog japanskog para za vreme osamdesetih, slatke mace i generalno ljubav prema životinjama i zasita je dosta.
Ali, radnja je nepostojeća, Da li bih rekla da je ova knjiga prenela neke sjajne poruke Pokušala je, . . ali ne bih se složila da je uspela, mada to zavisi i od sentimeliteta, "Волео бих да знам све о том дану, пролазном попут капљице росе, али њега је тама минулог времена већ прогутала. "

Управо ова пролазност, немогућа да се промјени или заустави, срж је овог кратког и специфичног романа. "Гошћа", односно мачка која повремено, а временом све више и више, посјећује брачни пар, учи нас истовремено о једноставности и компликованости живота. Овај брачни пар, испуњен аутобиографским елементима, кроз протекле дане, мјесеце и године увиђа и учи о смислу живота и већ поменутој пролазности истог. Све се то одвија кроз наизглед једноставне сусрете са овом мачком и догађаје који, на први поглед, нису посебно значајни.

Вокабулар који се користи и стил писања су дивни, а у моментима је нарација доведена до савршенства. Поред тога, утисак је да ниједна ријеч није сувишна и да се свака реченица налази на баш правом мјесту. Ово је све још додатно значајно када се узме у обзир комплексност превођења јапанског књижевног језика, и нужног губљења естетике и дочаравања у том превођењу на наш језик.

Штета је што овај писац нема значајнији опусиако има још један роман и неколицину есеја, ово му је прво и једино дјело преведено на српски језик јер дјелује као врло занимљива особа и особа која има доста тога да понуди. I'm no expert in literature, but I'd hazard a guess that any problems readers may have with this book are based in cultural differences rather than any literary failings with the book itself.
The book is very Japanese in that it focuses/describes one element at a time, Its poetry is in its illustration of people, places, and things, not of events, which is pretty counter to my experience of Western literature, It's so descriptive that at many points I found myself wishing I had an iota of artistic talent to sketch out the grounds of the mansion, guest house, and garden.


The NPR description of this book as a story about a cat who brings an overworked couple together is all wrong, however, I would argue that this book is about the elusiveness of a solution to life's countless mysteries, One can never hope to grab hold of them, only to appreciate them from afar, just like the The Guest Cat's protagonists did with Chibi,

Furthermore, one reviewer on Amazon complained that the ending was weak, I strongly disagree: I think the The Guest Cat's ending masterfully illustrates how the passage of time affects us all while providing closure to its readers, Give this book a chance, Put aside your cultural blinders long enough, and you may be pleasantly surprised, .