The plot is simple yet peculiar, perfectly sense-making yet bizarre: The protagonist has just heard he’s terminally ill, and all appears lost, until the Devil shows up and offers a deal: For every item our protagonist decides to erase from the world forever, he’ll be granted an extra day to live. What does matter is that the narrative is solid, the existential questions it poses pressing, and finishing it you’re left staring at the trees outside, painted by the sunset tints.

Still, If Cats Disappeared from the World isn’t quite literary fiction, for a variety of reasons that aren’t too interesting to elaborate on in the context of this review. Ultimately, it all relates to our place in the world, who we are, the meaning of it all. Just like many other Japanese literature works that I’ve enjoyed, If Cats Disappeared from the World revolves around themes found in literary fiction: impossible decisions, unanswerable questions, the little things we take for granted. So, what does a story like If Cats Disappeared from the World tell us? What if Cats Disappeared? We don’t even want to think about it Review of If Cats Disappeared from the World: Genre, Plot, Narrative There are many similarities between the two novels, and if they weren’t both published in the same year, I’d be willing to ascribe the coincidence to an act of imitation instead.

You might also recall my review of The Travelling Cat Chronicles, by Hiro Arikawa, featuring a very similar theme. I also love cats – indeed, for similar reasons, one may add! Combining the two, we get this review of If Cats Disappeared from the World, by Genki Kawamura.

Its themes are often focused, intelligent, quirky.

If cats disappeared