Literary Criticism: The Cat Who Saved Books By: Sōsuke Natsukawa

 

The Author: He is a Japanese doctor, this is is second novel.

He is 43 years old (1978)

He studied at the Shinshu University

The story is fluid and interesting, the characters have a strong personality, they are all at the same level, with specific peculiarities, that are fundamental to save the books from death.

The apex is at the end, in the previous chapters, the reader will witness a grew up of the main character Rintaro, a teen boy who has lost his loved uncle.

Fundamental for his maturation, is the close friendship with a talking cat and a schoolmate.

The title is persuasive, it is curious to know how a cat ca save the books, even the chapters are very interesting they invite the reader to read the chapter.

1) The man who kept them hidden

2) The man who cut them out

3) The man who only thought about selling them

4) The last labyrinth

The story is dense of themes, such as the friendship, the empathy, and especially the love for the books.

Each of them has a precise identity, Rintaro is a young and immature on the way to be an intellectual, like his grandfather, the cat is the philosopher and Sayo represents the maturity.

Rintaro will have a contrast with tree men, but the most bloody is with a woman.

It's interesting the concept that a book has a soul, a curiosity which will be filled with reading.

To say that Rintaro is an intellectual, the author uses the metaphor of glasses, which is repeated too often.

The Rintaro's strength is his empathy for books and on how to persuade the people on his positions.