THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES BY HIRO ARIKAWA

 Buku ni bukanlah dalam list aku untuk beli. Never heard of it nor read any review about it. Surprisingly this book punye rating tinggi jugak la dekat GoodReads. Aku terjumpa buku ni masa tengah carik Haruki Murakami punya buku. Guess what is the feature that made me interested to pull it out from the shelves? Yes, the cover. Nanti aku cerita about the cover. So buku yang ak tulis kat sini ialah,

THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES

Details of the book are as follow:

Publisher: Doubleday

Translator: Philip Gabriel

Cover: Hardcover with ribbon bookmark

Price: RM 57.95

Bookstore: Kinokuniya

Okay, tadi aku bagitau pasal cover kan. Yes, this is the book with the nicest cover yang ak pernah ada. Very simple but artistic. It’s a hardcover book but the book is sooo light. Kebanyakn buku harcover yang aku jumpe dia akan memberatkan buku tu. But this one is different, kau baca sambil tidur, in case buku tu jatuh kat muka, dia takkan kasi lebam muka kau..hahahha. Now kita cakap pasal wording dia. In term of line and spacing is just nice. Tak sakit mata baca. Size font pon perfect. Very friendly untuk mereka yang rabun and yang ada silau macam aku. Memang selesa nak baca. Susunan words and sentences sangat mudah difahami. Kudos to the translator. Plus buku ni tak bawak theme yang berat yang memerlukan susunan bahasa yang tinggi. Aku rasa aku da bole jadi pengelola DBP asyik cakap pasal bahasa..hahahah

 

Synopsis

Extracted from the book:

Nana is on a road trip but he is not sure where to. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved master Satoru in the front of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn’t know why and Satoru won’t say.

 

The synopsis memang implicitly explained the entire story. Yes, as in the title, its about a road trip of a cat and his master. Novel ni is very heart warming punye novel. Tema yang yang sangat dekat dengan aku which is about cat yang mana aku pon membela 10 ekor kucing yang gemok and useless but adorable.hahahaha.

This novel ada dua kind point of view. First is the point of view of Nana and the other cats or animals yang die jumpa sepanjang road trip. Yang kedua human point of view. The story starts with the first encounter between Satoru and the cat. The cat was originally a stray that lives somewhere around Satoru’s apartment and his favorite place to sleep is on Satoru’s white van which 5 years in the future the same van that accompany their road trip. Satoru ni memang a true cat lover. Dia selalu bagi makan dekat this stray cat yang soon was adopted and named as Nana. The real story starts after 5 years they lived together. Satoru suddenly decided to look for new owner for Nana. The reason was made unknown until few chapters towards the end of story. Satoru dah plan to ask help from his 4 friends either one to look after Nana. From one friend to another. And each friend yang die jumpe , akan ada flashback pasal mereka when they were kids. Dalam flashback tu akan cerita  each of the characters ade their own difficulty, dream and hope and how Satoru indirectly impacted their life. And its not only the meeting between satoru and his friends, Nana the cat also encounter new experience where he meets with other cats and dogs. Their conversations are seriously funny. Nana is a quick witted cat. He knows Satoru wanted to leave him under someone else care, but he refused to be left behind. So he came out with various strategy and believe me, you will be humored. Until the end, Satoru gave up and took Nana to his final destination which is to his aunt’s home. Everything about Satoru’s family will be explained so I won’t spoil it here.

 

Yes the overall story is funny and warm. Its about relationship between human and animal primarily, friendship, family, and dream. But, I underestimate the author. Damn, I don’t expect to cry. I cried so hard. Never in my life , I cry over a book and this is the first book that kills me slowly inside. I won’t reveal anything but please read it through until the end and prepare yourself a small pack of tissue so that you won’t stain your shirt with your snort, like what I did.

 

I believed the author is a cat lover as well. The way she narrated the story as if she used to communicate with cats and familiar with their view towards human. I have a very wonderful experience reading this book. Hiro Arikawa is a masterful storyteller. She really knows how to bring the reader inside the story. She describes everything perfectly especially the beautiful scenery of Japan’s countryside. This book indeed is a must read book and you will enjoy it. Every bit. I am not hesitate to place the book as my number 1 book in 2020.

The story has been adapted to a live action movie. I haven’t watch it as I am not ready to go through the roller coaster of emotion yet. I will definitely cry so that need to wait.

My rate? Yes…I give 4.5/5 (minus half point because i woke up with swollen eyes the next day)

Goodreads Rate: 4.29/5