If Cats Disappeared From the World - Genki Kawamura

[umbral loom]

BR duration: <t:1684022400:D>-<t:1685923200:D>
BR leader: @polar flax
Link: #buddy-reads message

BR duration: <t:1684022400:D>-<t:1685923200:D>
BR leader: @polar flax
Link: #buddy-reads message

[primal yarrow]

very excited to re-read this book! hoping to get back into buddy reads, since i recently got into reading again

[light karma]

I ended up buying the ebook because my library’s wait time is too long
So excited to start this soon!

[polar flax]

@radiant needle @magic thunder @cerulean haven @livid slate @wispy pier @wheat meteor @dense falcon @strong mesa @primal yarrow @light karma @cloud raptor @rotund sable @frank bobcat @karmic niche @clever hound @patent hornet

Hi everyone and welcome to our buddy read of If Cats Disappeared From The World which starts today! I’m very excited to read this with you

Some questions to get us started:
🐈 What are your expectations for this book?
🐱 If you had to pick one thing to disappear from the world forever so you could live one more day, what would it be?

If you don’t want to be pinged for this buddy read anymore, please unreact to the message in #buddy-reads .

⚠️ TWs/CWs:
||Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Cancer
Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, Grief||

[cerulean haven]

🐈 I don't really have any expectations of the book, I remember being recommended it on Good Reads and thinking 'ooh, cats!'

🐱 I would say cigarettes, as I've never smoked and I would want to help people with their own habits, even if that meant going cold-turkey 😬 vaping can still be a thing if people are struggling

Thank you for TW/CW, I'll try and keep it in mind for my read

[wispy pier]

🐈 I'm really not sure actually! I've seen it mentioned a handful of times and it seems like a cute, shorter book that would do wonders to break up the more gory and upsetting reads that I'm doing recently.
🐱 ...Cucumbers. If I have to get rid of something I'm going to get rid of the one food I can't stand and hopefully it won't have a long standing effect on the world.

[patent hornet]

🐈 I have never heard of this book ever I just thought it'd be fun to read with the title being so interesting now after the warnings I'm scared haha
🐱 maybe I'm just unhinged but maybe just general laws give me one last day of craziness and uproar

[radiant needle]

🐈 knowing Japanese literature, it’s probably going to be melancholic and the whole book is a metaphor for life.
🐱money, i think it would be interesting to see how the world would react to it before i die lol.

[wispy pier]

Starting!

🐈 I'm really not sure actually! I've seen it mentioned a handful of times and it seems like a cute, shorter book that would do wonders to break up the more gory and upsetting reads that I'm doing recently.

||Character is immediately diagnosed with a brain tumour. ||

[wispy pier]

Monday
||Honestly the whole vibe is very Ghibliesque and I'm here for it. The MC is really easy to picture juxtaposed against the devil. The devil's character design is surprisingly cute and pretty iconic actually. Its here that I'm going to throw in my random fact that there's some discussion that Eve wasn't made from Adam's rib but rather it's a mistranslation of "half". ||

Tuesday
||The story is really easy to get lost in. There's a lot of... melancholy charm in the way its told. But it's very grounded in a sense? I love the conversation between the MC and his ex. And it's a surprisingly real thing to imagine that people are more open when not seeing someone face to face. The idea that their relationship died because they weren't able to communicate their grief over the friend passing away is so tragically plausible... I love the idea of meeting with your ex years later and going "...so here's how you're wack. Why tf do you go to the bathroom so much??" I know it was for a more poignant reason than that to press upon his negatives but its still pretty funny.||

[wispy pier]

Wednesday
||"May the force be with you!"||
||"I'll be back!" ||
||Honestly this is just an actually good version of The Midnight Library and you cannot change my mind.||

[wispy pier]

General feeling:
||This book is evil... ||

[wispy pier]

||https://tenor.com/view/smile-person-akirambow-alone-sad-gif-26359091||

[wispy pier]

Finished
||I'm absolutely devastated. 5 ⭐I'll add more thoughts later but I'm wrecked in all honesty. ||

[polar flax]

I can't wait to (hopefully) binge the book tomorrow and read all your comments!!

[patent hornet]

Monday
|| I LOVE THE CRAZINESS OF THIS LIKE THE DEVIL ALOHA?? "My life was over and I had no one who mattered enough for me to call" 🥲 Also so excited about this mystery woman! ||

[wispy pier]

I've had some time to sleep and kind of stew over the book so I'm gonna give a slightly more in depth review now.
||So this book is like the bastard child of The Memory Police and The Midnight Library- And honestly it's fantastic. I was SORELY wrong about what kind of book this was going to be and I think I spent... nearly the whole book in tears. Where I found The Midnight Library trite with it's almost preachy messages of self-help - this book is a beautiful, reflective and most of all doesn't pull punches on some genuinely important messages to take away about life, connections and family. I know that I keep referencing The Midnight Library and I'll quit it after this but I'm FRUSTRATED that this has a lower rating on GR compared to The Midnight Library when this book explored very similar concepts in a more interesting way, explored some very existential things in a mature manner compared to how Matt Haig more or less "Live Laugh Love"'d at his readers AND this book was genuinely very charming when it wasn't making me bawl. I cared about the MC and Cabbage; about his relationship with his family, his ex girlfriend, his life long slightly bizarre best friend and how the things he disappeared for the chance of one day more meant so much to him in hindsight.||

More ranting about Matt Haig:
||Actually no, I'm going to continue to rant about The Midnight Library because this book made me feel so much in literally half the amount of pages. I'm trying to leave this relatively spoiler-free because while I'm frustrated I'm not going to ruin another completely separate book. The best way I can express why this is such a point of contention to me is that I was impressed upon to read TML and walked away bored, annoyed and actually a bit insulted; I picked this up on a whim and it might be one of my favourite books. Bookhype is bunk y'all. ||

To sum it up: || This is a story regarding relationships with people, cats, and things around us. We should always be grateful for what we possess. Enjoy the present time with someone and something around you, and do not regret it when you lose them forever. It's a reflection on why communication is the most important thing we can practice, we should leave nothing unsaid. Do what we can do now. Love what we can love now. Enjoy what we can enjoy now. Show your love to anyone you love including your family and friends. We should spend more time with our loved ones and be grateful that what we have and not what we do not have.||

[patent hornet]

Tuesday
|| NOOOO it was all going slightly well(?) What's going to happen to the little showing, slowly starting to dislike aloha he literally watched them all day praying for their downfall. I absolutely LOOOOVE the whole analysis of phones and their negatives but also positives thouggh calling someone who's sat next to you on a plane is odd but I guess it's all about symbolism as opposed to literal anyway im loving it also the small town monopoly is such a good analogy I feel the same ||

[polar flax]

Monday ||omg i love this devil character also wow that's a lot of stuff happening in so little pages omg||

[polar flax]

Tuesday ||i love the little reflections and also the writing style, the way we really get an inside view of our protagonist! Also all the melancholy and nostalgia that on one hand is there but on the other hand he's being very factual about it and not really just letting his feelings flow? Very interesting approach, i really have to stop myself to not read more rn because i have a four hour break now and only this one book with me so it needs to last me a bit longer ||

[polar flax]

Wednesday ||love all the little quotes and references sprinkled into this book||

[polar flax]

Thursday ||the way cabbage talks is so cute omg :(||

||NO you can't disappear Cabbage!!! :(||

Finished :((

||This was so sweet and sad and in such a short amount of pages i really cared about the protagonist and Cabbage and all his memories, i liked how it was reflective but not in an overdone way and really makes you think and feel a lot!! Loved it ||

[polar flax]

I agree so much and i couldn't have said it better!! ||Especially the comparison to TML i really agree on; this is what TML could have been but wasn't!||

Also, here's a song that fits the vibe of the book so perfectly:
https://open.spotify.com/track/52QtV1P5uGGhuY0Z206KeE?si=8qWQuV_2QwKr2sDnAAOuWQ

[wispy pier]

||I felt like I went on a bit of a tangent but I stand by what I said I will never stop dunking on The Midnight Library so long as I live ||
||Small TW for image, well known meme joking about taking suicide lightly||
||
Genki Kawamura: Life is beautiful, short and communication is one of the most important assets for our connections- tell those you love how you feel about them and never let things go unsaid. Also this cat is called Cabbage and speaks with the inflections he learned while watching Downton Abbey with his mommy that loved him.||
||Matt Haig: https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/509/741/3d8.jpg||

This song!!!

[polar flax]

lol so true!!

||i feel like this book managed to be "deep" and thought-evoking without making it feel like the author was trying too hard?||

[wispy pier]

||I think what I respect more about this book is that it tries to be entertaining but sobering too. I care immensely about the MC and really at the end I'm just internally screaming "TALK TO YOUR DAD, PLEASE TALK TO YOUR DAD". I remember that TML's main character was called Nora Seed because it was some awkward allegory that she needed to grow as a person and she was the world's wettest blanket- that's about it. The characterization of the MC in this is subtle but realistic? His thought process is selfish at times but he's very human imo. His interpretation of the devil as just...the him he could have been? God nooooo... ||

[polar flax]

Yess!!

And the book doesn't take him too seriously i feel like, and that makes him feel a lot more likeable tbh!

[wispy pier]

As you can tell this book has been living rent-free in my head since I binge-read it yesterday

[patent hornet]

I'm intimidated by how fast you guys read! I'm so glad I chose a short book for my first buddy read haha

[polar flax]

noo don't compare your reading speed to ours!! I had a lot of time to kill today so i flew through it but the br is three weeks long so no need to worry about finishing it that quickly!!

[radiant needle]

Finished
||
I thought it was going to be all about cats, because of the title lol.

I think the concept of the devil being the version of you that you could have been was really interesting. It turns what seems to be an internal moral dilemma into a conversation that's easier to follow and understand. I liked how although it's still kind of a self-help positivity book, it's more of a gentle reminder to live life passionately and sometimes the little things in life is worth living for. And I also liked how the relationships between people and their conversations are believable and easily relatable. Overall a very comfy book about facing death. ||

[wispy pier]

Take your time and don't worry about it! I was in the same boat as Vio and was reading it at my desk while I had a lot of downtime

[patent hornet]

Wednesday
|| I still can't get over the cat being called cabbage is absolutely amazing. I can't even put into words how beautiful and heartbreaking this book is all the little quotes and references. THE LIFE MOVIE. The fact he literally stared at a blank screen for hours planning the movie - how i feel maladaptive dreaming ||

[light karma]

🐈 I always feel like books that have anything to do with cats being all fluffy cute but judging the reactions/emotes used here, I know I'm very wrong there
🐱 That's an interesting question... I think I'd pick evilness to disappear so like there would be no more anything associated with evils, just goodness and happiness (I know there's a lot of things to consider here but like so long as we're imagining, anything's possible )

[mint prawn]

🐈 What are your expectations for this book?
I have no idea I just hope its a short easy read. I love Japanese literature so I'm hoping to enjoy this too!
🐱 If you had to pick one thing to disappear from the world forever so you could live one more day, what would it be?
Vaude said cucumbers and I'd have to agree... but I'm gonna go with pickles too. For a more deeper answer I'm gonna go with sickness. It'd be nice to have no suffering in the world

[wheat meteor]

🐈 ~ I expect to love this book like I did The Travelling Cat Chronicles sorry I had to mention it cause cats ofc I expect a story with a beautiful message that is probably gonna make me cry but that's fine, I'm prepared....maybe...
🐱 ~ Idk at first I thought wasps but ultimately probably corruption. I just want everyone to be able to exist in the world without all these other worries caused by corruption and bad people. Just let us live our lives
I'm planning to start this next week as by then I will have a physical copy. I refuse to not like this book, it shall be in my book collection forever and ever and ever

[wheat meteor]

I just want to say thank you for the song that is absolutely going straight into one of my playlists

[polar flax]

you're welcome!!

[patent hornet]

Thursday
|| IM NOW EVEN MORE CONSCIOUS OF HOW MY DOGS FEEL AFTER CABBAGE. I can't believe they're getting us to fall in love with cabbage and now stealing him from us what cruel human does that 😪😪😪 well i guess the devil but still too far man! ||

[rotund sable]

Finished
||My immediate thought after reading this book was that some of the beauty might have been lost in translation. I love the concept but I feel like there’s something about the writing that doesn’t do it justice? Or maybe it’s just a more casual tone that I wasn’t expecting. I think I felt a bit disenchanted because I struggled to connect with the MC. His big epiphany at the end is kind of what I thought all along, and I felt like they could’ve made his case more compelling- maybe if he was chronically in pain and was given a chance to live a day pain free? I just found the trade of the human concept of time for one more day of life to be underwhelming.
Having said all this, I’ve grown to look a bit more positively on the book after reading people’s comments. I agree that it doesn’t punch you in the face with motivational ideals and for that I am grateful. Also I loved the idea of the white screen being the sum of a whole movie. I’m glad we didn’t have to lose cabbage to. Long live the cat🎉||

[mint prawn]

gonna start this sooooon

[mint prawn]

monday
||ok this is an interesting start. I love the devils character already. I love when authors make seemingly "bad" characters into silly little guys also phones are a pretty major thing to be giving away for an extra day of your life. Im surprised he didnt think of something else. Just based on the title I can assume he trades his cat to live longer later on in the book and I dread it if that happens. Im interested to see who the girl he called is||

[mint prawn]

tuesday ||omg how is he gonna watch his favorite film with her tomorrow if theres no movies!? this chapter was heartwarming and really captured the bittersweet feelings of a first love/relationship. especially with the talking on the phones aspect. I feel like people are so chronically online nowadays that it's hard to just be in the moment and enjoy yourself. also tom's story! wow that was devastating. ||

[mint prawn]

wednesday ||loved all the movie references. when tsutaya cried and they bonded over movies ||

[mint prawn]

thursday ||I LOVE CABBAGE this makes me want to talk to my dog to see what she's thinking. This chapter was one of the saddest yet. Hearing about his mom trying to get the family together again one last time and rekindle his relationship with his father was so sweet. I really hope he uses some of his remaining time to contact his father. ||

[mint prawn]

I finished! ||I'm so glad he's going to see his father. It's so sad to see how they grew apart after his mothers death because they coped and expressed their love in different ways. I was glad to see that he didn't trade cats for another day. I loved the overall message that trading things to live one more day isn't going to make your life any better. There's no point in living one more day if it's not lived happily.
This book really makes you think about the small beauties in life and to appreciate friends and family more. When you think about it, a life without movies, music, cats, chocolate, phones, etc wouldn't be bad but it wouldn't be fun or worth living in.
The book had a very nostalgic feel to it while also being short, sweet, and emotional. 🐈 ||

[polar flax]

Wow, that was quick!!

[mint prawn]

I got hooked! plus the book was a little over 100 pages so it was a pretty fast read

[mint prawn]

||I agree, I think the magic of the book couldve been a bit better and might have been lost in translation but overall I loved the beauty of the lessons in the book and how it makes you reflect||

[patent hornet]

FINISHED || okay I love this I love the message everything about it but am I the only cynical one wondering if he actually made it to his fathers house? I spent the journey there on edge worrying he'd die on the way there was he not on borrowed time?? I thought he'd die the day after deciding against having cats disappear but maybe I'm focusing too much on technicalities. Anyway I did love the book it was short and sweet but really had a lot of strong messages about life and the importance of unusually mundane and accepted things. I feel like I'd love to have known more about the protagonist and his fathers relationship in the past like what really pushed them apart I don't feel like I was fully attached to him but cabbage ofc < 3 I LOVE the devil concept too ||

[wispy pier]

||I don't think my heart could take it if he didn't make it to his dad's house. ||

[rotund sable]

||I also got confused in relation to the days left too, but maybe the idea was just that he’d die soon? Not immediately? I agree I’d love to know more about how exactly the relationship fell apart||

[wheat meteor]

Got the book and I started it here's my thoughts so far from my reading journal:
Monday ~ || I love how matter-of-fact it is already. It's so refreshing to read something every once in a while that gets straight to the point. ||
Tuesday ~ || "When human beings invented the mobile phone they also invented the anxiety of not having one" truer words haven't been spoken fr. It's so interesting to see the thoughts in these pages and I completely agree with so many of them; for phones we have lost a sense of reality it feels like, needing them all the time...just seeing people doing other things on the train is such a concept that I certainly would love to see but even I am guilty of being on my phone then. There's also the way that it connects us to others, and the phone calls just talking about random stuff is so good but yeah phones are generally pretty bad for us.. ||

Wednesday ~ || I LOVED this chapter so much all the movie stuff packed into it - him quoting those movies and explaining the plots of some...aaaa it was just so nice??? It didn't feel dragged out at all, it was just perfect I love the little tangents he goes on about stuff, giving us little details and facts along the way, I usually am not fond of perspectives like this but this book does it well I gotta say. I also love how straight-to-the-point these messages are in the book and you can always take a little bit more from it but it just states it all out there in the open...idk just kinda nice ||
|| also that end though.... I'm not ready for what's next ||

[wheat meteor]

Thursday ~ || No, this is my favourite chapter - what a beautiful one it was. That whole trip had me tearing up. Even the writing, though simply reimagining it I got such a clear image ||

Friday ~ || I'm definitely going to be crying in this chapter..not even 12 lines in it's already hitting a little too close to home ||

[wheat meteor]

|| onto saturday ig ||

[wheat meteor]

Finished ~ 10/10 would buy again. || Not everything is meant to be packed full of metaphors for analysing, and that's okay; beauty is in simplicity too. What a beautiful book. The "answer"/ending seems so obvious but that's pretty true for real life too, often it is so obviously there before us but we still detour or try to take different routes and search for different answers. I adore this book for it's simplicity - I feel like often we make things so complicated, wanting more of this or that but we don't always need it, much like some of the messages in this book and how they are shown in the writing. Life really shouldn't be as complex as we make it out to be ||

Then again...|| maybe I'm just biased because it reminded me of the dog I grew up with ||

[wheat meteor]

As someone who has yet to read TML but had heard alotabout it, this is hilarious to me || honestly so worried for when I read that book because I know for a fact I am going to absolutely despise it ||

[wheat meteor]

||Will also forever hate tiktoks through youtube shorts that highly recommended it to me when I knew no better and I actually bought the damn book ||

[wispy pier]

Hey, no worries there bestie, if you read it and hate it you know that you can hit me up to vent

The YoutubeShorts BookTok sphere is what got me too...

[wheat meteor]

I swear you were the person as well I was going to vent about atlas six to when I get around to reading that...looks like there's another to add to the list

[wispy pier]

That's me bby - If it's popular on TikTok and I've read it, you can come by and scream about it and I'll just go "yep, same".

Apart from maybe Madeline Miller. I loved Madeline Miller's stuff.

[wheat meteor]

Song of Achilles deserved the hype

Thank you for hosting this br though Got a wonderful book because of it.

[wispy pier]

Oh well that actually goes to the lovely Vio! I'm feeling very much the same, this book was beyond wonderful. ~~Even if I spent the whole time crying. ~~
(Might be confused because I'm hosting like 4 other BRs right now )

[wheat meteor]

OH

NO IM SO DUMB

YESTERDAY I DID THE SAME THING

I was like "omg this is such a nice read i wonder who's hosting, even scrolled all the way up to find Vio and was like omg it's so good"

[light karma]

you’re not dumb

[wheat meteor]

Please excuse my dumbassery

[light karma]

It’s an honest mistake

[wheat meteor]

VIO TY SO MUCH FOR HOSTING THIS IT WAS SO GOOD

[wispy pier]

Ay tbh it's an easy mistake considering that people say "aw man I want to read this book" and then I just

https://tenor.com/view/i-volunteer-tribute-hunger-games-gif-15058425

[wheat meteor]

lmao

I think yes cause I'm still in our wives under the sea time

Your names both start with V's stop confusing me

[wispy pier]

https://tenor.com/view/team-rocket-jessy-james-prepare-for-trouble-gif-14684490

[wheat meteor]

no...my brain really isn't here rn I even used the wrong 'your'

well that's enough discord for the day

[umbral loom]

[polar flax]

You're welcome!! :D i'm so glad people are enjoying the book so much

[polar flax]

@mint prawn @radiant needle @magic thunder @cerulean haven @dusky merlin @livid slate @wispy pier @wheat meteor @dense falcon @primal yarrow @light karma @cloud raptor @rotund sable @frank bobcat @karmic niche @clever hound @patent hornet

Hello everyone
Just a quick reminder that this buddy read ends in a week (5.6.). I’m really happy with how many people have loved this book so far so I hope everyone who wants to still gets the chance to read it on time (or later)!
Please also make sure to discuss a little more than just your final thoughts if you want to get the points for this buddy read!
I’ll be back in a week with some final discussion questions - until then, happy reading

[cerulean haven]

Oh, I completely didn't realise that there was only a week left. I'd written down the wrong date 😅

I will make a start on this today!

[cerulean haven]

Monday:

|| Absolutely loving Aloha, as well as his newly discovered addiction to chocolate 🍫

The opposing personality and clothing style gives me a good scene in my head for if this was a film. Like using a warmer and colder filter on the camera for who is in frame and talking.

I have no idea what I'd put on a list of things I'd want to do before I died. I'm not even sure if I would let anyone know. I'm very boring

Aaaanyway.

I think I would try and do small things rather than get rid of something literally every single human uses or enjoys. Like ... getting rid of a very old book nobody knows about, or, if I HAD to choose something big, maybe getting rid of horrible criminals? Or world hunger or something? Not sure if Aloha means literal objects or if you can get rid of concepts too. Does EVERYONE'S phone disappear? Or just the narrator's? ||

[cerulean haven]

Tuesday

|| Poor Lettuce and poor Mum. I got a little shiver over the narrator's story. I hope Cabbage is okay when everything happens.

Also feel very called out when the Narrator was talking about their addiction to their phone, and people in general.

I wonder if he had a good conversation with his first love before his phone disappeared?

Their meeting went okay, reminiscing.

Oh God, Tom's death must have been awful to go through. It's worse when it's fast and you can't say goodbye. At least our Narrator has some time to see people and make amends.

Think this chapter is a bit sadder than the first one, that had more humour.

"Like love, life is beautiful because it has to end."

||

[cerulean haven]

Wednesday:

|| This chapter has made me quite emotional. Films were a big part of my childhood and teenage years and my relationships.

What kind of movie would your life be? ||

This is a beautifully written book.

[light karma]

thanks for the reminder! I shall start this tomorrow

[cerulean haven]

Thursday:

|| Ah! Cabbage talks! Though it's very sad that he does not remember Mum

I wonder what my cat does and doesn't like about the things I give and do for her?

The Narrator's story about visiting the hotspring with his Mum and Dad got me tearing up really reminded me of when my Dad was sick and we went on last family trips together and he kept doing things for Mum and I all the way up to the end

And yes, cats always seem to know when you need comfort.

I might need to take a break ||

[frank bobcat]

Im starting this now

[cerulean haven]

Friday:

|| I am sobbing at this book. I really think that this is the first 5 star book I've read so far this year ||

[cerulean haven]

Finished

[frank bobcat]

About middle of Chapter 1 ||So far im really liking Aloha I'm expecting to cry alot during this book but so far im just laughing||

[light karma]

I’m starting thisssss

Monday
||Okay, I do sense an impending heartbreak, some really heart-wrenching stuff but OMG I LOVE THE DEVIL!!! SO friggin CUTE! I love their lil banter and like this whole chapter
Ohhh and never expected the DEVIL of all creatures to explain stuff from the Book of Genesis
Oh and Aloha??? Such a cute name really||

Tuesday

||“It’s strange how that works. Out of all the numbers stored in my mobile phone I never memorized even one. I can’t remember the numbers of close friends or colleagues, or even my parents. I had left the work of memory and even my ties to other human beings to my mobile phone. I no longer bothered to memorize anything. When you think about it, mobile phones have done something pretty scary to the human brain.”||
||It really is scary really, the way we're so dependent on our phones. I remember a similar example had been used for our dependency on calculators, like the human mind so powerful being reduced to just doing the bare minimum and affecting its full functionality in the long run.

I love there are such deep trinkets to ponder upon sprinkled over the banal everyday, like the whole conversation between the girlfriend and him, the relationship with his mother, Tom's death and its impact. It feels very contemplative and deep to me, less humour and more seriousness in this chapter.||

[light karma]

Wednesday

||“In my dream the man says, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” ||
||This book has so many quotable lines
I'm loving it! I'm not too big a fan of movies but this chapter made me really appreciate them with all the references and allusions. The movie of his life playing out with him being the MC reminded me of this reel I'd seen on instagram and I find it strangely motivating? I loved this chapter and I've been loving everything about this book so far ||

||“You only realize what the really important things are when you’ve lost them.”||
||Oh and thiss ||

Thursday
||Gosh this was such a ride
With really deep philosophical 'time is only a concept' stuff to the cute interactions between Cabbage and our MC, this was really full on feels and wholesomeness. But that end
I mean it's literally the title but I don't feel ready yet
Oh and that trip he took with his parents, his mum's efforts to bridge the gap between his dad and him
Too many feels ||

Okay I'm done|| || I'll share my final thoughts soon

[light karma]

Final thoughts:|| I absolutely LOVED how devastatingly beautiful this read was. I had not expected the deep almost philosophical bits which I really loved tbh. It's something I really admire about Japanese/East Asian writers, the way they can show us the value of the simple everyday life, the importance of living not for some big 'showdown' kinda thing but the little things that add up to our existence. I laughed and cried a great many times while reading and then just spent the last couple hours? (minutes?) having finished the book in a very contemplative, reflective sort of mood. It's so beautifully and simply written with clear messages that just touch you. There wasn't a dull moment reading and it felt quite fast paced as well. The letters, first the mum's and then the way he ends with him writing to his father
I love how he decided against having cats disappear - like phones, movies, time???? sure thing but cats is where he draws the line and I love that, there's something quite sentimental and human about that very fact and like you see that changes that he's undergone within a span of some couple days. This book goes on to my shelf of all my other favourites now ||

Vio, thanks for hosting this!! I really enjoyed this BR

[polar flax]

I'm so glad people are loving the book so much!!

[patent hornet]

I keep referencing ||cabbage speaking in posh period drama english|| to everyone I know I can't get over it

[polar flax]

@mint prawn @radiant needle @magic thunder @cerulean haven @dusky merlin @livid slate @wispy pier @wheat meteor @dense falcon @primal yarrow @light karma @cloud raptor @rotund sable @frank bobcat @karmic niche @clever hound @patent hornet

Hello fellow readers!
Today marks the end of our buddy read of If Cats Disappeared From The World. I hope everyone who read it enjoyed the book as much as I did

Here’s some discussion questions for everyone who finished:

1. ||Why did you think he drew the line where he did, why was it okay to erase movies, phones and time from the world, even though those are things everyone has to do with on a daily basis, but didn’t want to make cats disappear?||
2. ||The book deals with quite serious topics while at the same time lightening it up quite a bit with things such as Aloha the Devil or Cabbage’s talking. What did you think of this, did it work for you? ||

Just to make sure I didn’t forget anyone, these are the people who finished the book (please let me know if I missed someone): dolaple, Fribbit, Hanzy, Nerdosaurus, Sinaa, Snogglepuff, Vaude, Veditte, and me.
I’m so glad to have read this book with all of you, I really had a great time

[patent hornet]

1. || I think it's not just because cabbage was his best friend but also the only connection he had left with his mother since he has such a strained relationship with his father, it'd be like losing her all over again 😦 ||
2. || I loved it so much! I think it helped ground me and realise that it is just a book I usually feel absolutely crushed and absorbed in books that are just sad and the comic relief really did its job - I still can't get over the ambiguous end though ||

[mint prawn]

1. ||Animals and pets have such a special place in our hearts that its hard to imagine a life without them. Also I think he realized that if he were to just keep getting rid of thins just to stay alive it wouldnt be worth it.||
   2.|| I think the book did a great job at keeping a lighthearted feeling but also dealing with serious topics like grief. The author did an amazing job at keeping a balance of the two without it seeming inappropriate or overwhelming at times.||

[rotund sable]

1. ||I don’t think it was his intention from the start that he would erase anything but cats, rather I think he went along with Aloha’s plans in a panic, and it took him until the day he suggested cats to realise it wasn’t a friendly offer. Also, when push comes to shove, the bond formed with other living creatures will always trump that of inanimate objects||
2. ||I liked the quirky character of Aloha, and the detail about where the cat learned his accent (although surely the family talked to him more than he watched tv? So wouldn’t he speak like them? That’s nitpicking though). I think I would’ve liked these elements more however if I could read the original text. As I said before, I fear some of the charm may be lost in translation||

[cerulean haven]

1. || I feel like it might be a loneliness or companionship thing. There are other things to keep your mind occupied without movies or phones, and your body kind of has it's own clock in a way, but having no means of contacting people via phone then only pets are left. Even people who don't want to engage with other humans seem to almost always have a pet. ||

2. || The, almost comfy (at least to me) relief of Aloha and Cabbage made the whole thing more realistic to what situations like that are actually like. When something bad is happening to someone, it's not all doom and gloom, there are still happy moments. Sitting with your cat and chatting to them, or meeting a funny friend for example ... death isn't something we should be afraid of, it just ... happens in the roller coaster of life ||

[wheat meteor]

1~ || I think he started to realise the connections he had with these things, but most importantly Cabbage and the extra link to his mother. He probably learned to cherish Cabbage more as he remembered the memories he had with both the cat and his mother (even his father). Cabbage was also kind of a cure for his relationship with his father also. ||
2~ || I think it was nice to have this balance of sad topics and lighter themes without making the topic seem like an unserious thing. It gave just the right little bit of lighter tone needed to leave you with a fond feeling. And it definitely will help me reread this time and time again in the future ||