Meire Marion's Corner...: When choosing a book by its cover works out Beautifully

Book hoarder? YES! That's what I am - a book hoarder. I'm always checking the Internet for books on sale, especially in English, and I came across this book (see picture below). YES! I did judge it by its cover - cats and death - the perfect combination for a story.

I only noticed that it was a Japanese author when it arrived and to be quite frank, I order so many books that I kind of forget what is coming. When this book arrived it intrigued me and then I read the back cover, which says “What would you sacrifice for an extra day of life? The devil picked that moment to announce in his usual cheerful manner the next item he'd make disappear. I couldn't think about anything anymore so, I said yes just like that. At that point the thought that it could happen to my cat cabbage had never crossed my mind…”

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura sold over 1,000,000 copies in Japan alone. It was launched in 2012 but it was only translated in 2018. In this story, this young man's days are numbered and strange from his family living alone with just his cat Cabbage for company, he is unprepared for the doctor's diagnosis. A diagnosis that he has only months to live, but before he can set about trap tackling his bucket list, the devil appears with the special offer in exchange. For making one thing in the world disappear he can have an extra day of his life and so begins a very bizarre week because how do you decide what makes life worth living? How do you separate out what you can do without from what you hold dear? In dealing with the devil, our narrator will take himself and his beloved cat to the brink. If Cats Disappeared from the World is a beautifully moving tale of loss and reconciliation of one man's journey to discover what really matters in modern life.

As I look at the author, Genki Kawamura, is a best-selling author of three novels; his first novel If Cats Disappear from the World has sold over a million copies in Japan (as I have already mentioned) and has been translated into 11 languages, translated into English by Eric Selland. His other novels are Million Dollar Man and April Come She Will. He has also written three children's picture books Tinny & The Balloon, MOOM and Patissier Monster. Kawamura is a producer, director, screen writer and a showrunner as well.

This book was the book is divided into days of the week, so it starts off with Monday. There's a short introduction for us to know why and what and how it was written. Starting on Monday when the devil makes his appearance, there is a part, starting on page 183 where he talks to the devil “When cabbage and I got home last night Aloha was waiting for us.” Aloha is the pet name he gives to the devil. “Actually, he wore his usual loud outfit - Hawaiian shirts and shorts, with a pair of sporty sunglasses perched on his forehead. I was annoyed to see him, but on the other hand, a part of me found seeing the same old outfit almost reassuring. It's kind of frightening how easily you get used to things.

‘Hey, where the hell were you? I thought maybe you'd been spirited away or something. I was about to lodge a missing person’s report with the man upstairs.

‘Sorry.’

‘Whoa, there what happened? Lost your mojo? And where is it by the way?

Then we jump to page 185 he asks:

‘By the way, what does the devil normally look like?’ Because the devil in the story looks like him, except dressed in Hawaiian clothes, totally the opposite of what he is.

‘You really want to know?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Well, actually I don't have any one specific form.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The devil only exists in the hearts and the minds of the humans. Then you humans express that in lots of different forms. It's kind of random like with horns and a pitchfork or in the form of a dragon. {…} Though I take particular exception to the horns and pitchfork - I mean give me a break! It's just bad taste, don't you think?’

‘Yeah, you're right about that one.’

‘I don't like that look at all.’

‘I'm not surprised.’

‘So, you see, the form I take all depends on your imagination. The devil is in your heart looks just like you.’

‘But your personality is totally different to mine.’

‘Humm, yes. But I think that's the important bit. In other words, I'm a person you could have been.

‘In what sense?’

‘It's the side of yourself that you never showed. You know, cheerful but shallow, weary flashy wearing flashy clothes, doing whatever you wanted without worrying about what other people would think - saying whatever you want, no matter how inappropriate.”

This is the passage that I really liked and it's like you know good and evil live in each person and you show whatever you want to people. It's like when they say that when you're older if you were a good person you tend to be grumpy and evil due to your dementia or whatever problem you may have at the end of your days. Otherwise, if you were crabby person, during your life, and evil, you tend to become a sweet and happy elderly person.

There's another passage in the book that I like. It is when the narrator talks about love and death on page 72. Actually, he's talking about relationships and he's pondering on relationships so he says: “Love has to end. That's all. And even though everyone knows it they still fall in love. I guess it's the same with life. We all know it has to end someday, but even so we act as if we're going to live forever. Like love , life is beautiful because it has to end.” This part made me think about the fact that we're all going to die one day so what does it matter if you have an extra day. It's not like you can take an airplane ride to the northern hemisphere to finally tell somebody how you feel about them or apologize to them so that you can pass away in peace.

As you can see this book has touched me and even though I will be donating it to the school library. That's what I've been doing with the books that I read in English - I donate them to the school library just to upgrade their reading material and I know that when I die my books will be given away so, I might as well give them away in life. The books that I read in Portuguese I usually give to friends or donate to other institutions there is even a library, let's say in the suburbs of Sao Paulo that I have donated so many books that one day they have invited me to visit the library because the children would like to meet me. All of this just because when my father passed - he was a reader he made his own little bookshelf he was proud of his books and everything that he read he wasn't a reader during his whole life because he was a hard worker and he had to support his family, however, as he became older one of his favorite pastimes was reading. We basically read the same books especially during the Harry Potter phase; I would read in English he would read in Portuguese and we would talk about it, which just created a greater bond between us. He was so proud of those books and he would clean them and he kept them on his little bookshelf that he made out of pipes - he was a plumber - and wood and it was, it's still there in his house. It's something very artistic. Let's say, however, when he passed books were just thrown into boxes to be thrown away. I don't think it crossed the minds of the people in my family to donate the books because it is something that they do not treasure. However, I did take the boxes and donated them to this school.

Nonetheless, there are some books that I do keep. There are some collections that I have like my favorite author who is Haruki Murakami (everybody knows that) I have read most if not all of his books - those I keep. It's not like I'm going to read them again although I have reread some of them. But it's a collection that I like to look at and recall the characters and plots. Then of course there are those books that people autograph and dedicate to me. Those books I also keep because I think that that would be kind of strange for you to find a book dedicated to me somewhere either in a second-hand bookstore or even a library. When I'm dead, OK fine that is a different question, but while I'm alive that does not make sense at all - at least to me.

So, when they say never judge a book by its cover sometimes there is a fluke and it works out quite well.

Written: May 24, 2023