The Travelling Cat Chronicles
By: Hiro Arikawa / Translated By: Philip Gabriel / Narrated By: George Blagden
Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
Best book I’ve listened to in a long time; it’s just THAT good!
We kinda sorta just stumbled onto The Travelling Cat Chronicles for our audiobook club, and let me tell you: by the end? Not a dry eye remained. As we discussed it, we cried. As I listened to it a second time, I cried.
I cried, I tell you, I cried!
It’s such a simple story of love and devotion, of friendship, of growing up and yearning for lost love and grace.
It opens with the stray cat Nana’s former life on the street, of allowing the earnest Satoru to speak to him, to leave him dry cat food by what’ll become the silver van of his dreams. When trauma strikes, Nana doesn’t know where to turn, but he has an idea: maybe Satoru?
The two bond during Nana’s healing time, and Nana finally accepts Satoru’s offer to become his cat, a pet. This was not something Nana even thought of. He’s a stray, after all; his life is one of hard knocks, living by his wits, catching the stray bits of sun during cold days.
It turns into a story of unswerving faith in each other, of love, of complete acceptance and a unity of two minds and hearts.
But due to unspecified circumstances, after five years together, Satoru must find a new home for his beloved Nana. And so he sets off all across Japan, seeking old friends from his past, trying to find a place for the cat. We get to relive Satoru’s life through reminiscences with his friends, of his life with his first cat Hachi, whom he never forgot and who, in some way, touched the lives of all his friends also.
The stories are funny; the stories are heartbreaking. We come to see Satoru’s great and loving heart, his evenness of mind, his gentleness of temper. And through it all, Nana has to decide where he will live, what new life he will accept. But there’s no getting past it: He must find a new way.
The audiobook unfolds, and the bond between Satoru and Nana grows until there is only one way this will all end: Nana will have his way.
This is a British English translation of the Japanese book, so expect words like, “Crikey!” and the phrase, “Shut it!” to be used. It works very well, and George Blagden’s smooth voice for Nana, who is sly and cunning, yet not disgustingly so, is a real treat to the ears. It’s truly humorous when Nana tries teaching an innocent and clueless kitten how “real” cats act, how to be a boon companion to his owner, how to get by should the kitten ever find himself on the streets.
And his complete and utter devotion to Satoru is delivered in the most heartfelt manner believable. I don’t know if it resonated so much for our little audiobook club because our whole family has taken in stray animals and have found extraordinary love and laughter from it all, but I don’t think so. I think it adds to it, if you’ve known the love of an animal, but if you’ve known devotion of any sort, I think you’ll be touched by this remarkable, remarkable book.
It’s a relatively short listen, and I do believe you might find yourself sobbing your head off, even when you see where it’s going and think you’re prepared for it. I sure thought I was prepared for it but found myself with a cat sitting on my head, swatting my tears away.
Truly, what a surprise of a listen, and what a marvelous book with such sensitive writing!
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