What a sad, interesting book. The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu is translated into English by Jesse Kirkwood, who also translated The Full Moon Coffee Shop, among other books. While the blanket cats themselves are the only link between seven stories, each of the tales is about someone who is desperate, and sees a rented cat as a possible solution.
Blanket cats are available for rent at a Japanese pet store. They are seven cats who never found a permanent home, and they come with rules. They can only be rented for three days. They have their own blanket, and that blanket must not be lost or washed, and they’re only to eat their supplied food. But, can they change lives, or change perspectives?
There are seven stories, and seven cats. One couple in their forties take home a cat. They can’t have children, and they’ve become isolated and lost in their marriage. At fifty, Taeko rents an older cat she used to take on vacation. This time, she needs to talk through her life as she goes to the mountains and the beach. “The Cat with No Tail” features a Manx cat rented by a twelve-year-old who turned into someone his family doesn’t recognize. In one story, a grandmother going blind and suffering from senility spends one last time with her son’s family, and with a cat they rented to remind her of their beloved one that had died.
My favorite story was the only one with a happy ending, “The Cat Who Went on a Journey.” His ancestors spoke to him of their history, and their past accompanying travelers. Tabby took it upon himself to be a companion for a boy and girl.
I’ll admit these melancholy stories might not be ones for this time and place. But, the heartbreaking stories in The Blanket Cats will touch you if you venture to try them.
The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu. Translation by Jesse Kirkwood. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025. ISBN 9780593852699 (hardcover), 272p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent a copy of the book, with no promise of a review.
You leave me with a hard decision, Lesa. Good but sad stories or not?!
I know. This is a tough one, Kim.
After reading your review I was on the fence about reading this. I can’t find it at my library or other e sources so I guess that’s my answer. Will be interested to see if others read it and review on Thursdays at Lesa’s.
Release day is next Tuesday, Susan, so maybe it’s just late getting on order at your library.
My library has this on order so I’ll give it a try but I think it’s going to depend on my mood when it comes in.
It probably will, Sharon. I guess I’d call it melancholy.
I recently read a similar book, We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida. It is a little more magical, people needing or looking for a change find an unusual Kyoto clinic where they are prescribed a particular cat. There is a small and puzzling through-line connecting the individual stories. Based on your review it sounds like the stories in the book I read have endings on the happier side. It kind of made me want to get a cat!
Trisha! I know what you mean. I miss my cats, and The Blanket Cats made me want to rent one for a couple days. But, I’d want to keep it.
Kaye Barley read We’ll Prescribe You a Cat, and recommended it to me.