Blurb:
It’s not the journey that counts, but who’s at your side.
Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat 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.
Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana’s story explores the wonder and thrill of life’s unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take.
At the heart of this book is a powerful message about the importance of kindness. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.
I had heard good things about this book so as soon as it became available at my local library I picked it up immediately. I tend to get all of my books from the library first – mainly to save money but also to help support my local library centres – and the books that I really love are added to my list for a physical collection. At the moment I don’t have the space for a large book collection, but the list is looking very healthy, and I have to say I know that The Travelling Cat Chronicles will be added to my physical collection as soon as possible.
This book is just truly heartwarming. I won’t discuss any spoilers, as I truly think this book needs to be read with as little information going into it as possible to really get the power of the book, but it truly is just lovely. Without any spoilers, I will warn you that this book can get a little sad at times: I listen to my books whilst I am running and I had to pause my run whilst listening to this at one point just to collect myself at parts. Yet it isn’t sad in a heartbreaking way. Any sadness that happens is followed by a lovely moment of hope. Hope for the future, hope for the characters involved and hope that things will simply continue moving forwards.
For me, the biggest praise I can give for this book, is that Hiro Arikawa has the voice of Nana, the cat, absolutely perfectly written. Nana is charming, and witty, and funny, and yet also sassy and proud. Which if you have ever met a cat, you know that this is exactly how they would sound! He is sassy but he is also kind and attenitve and his relationships with the other characters are always based on a basis of mutual respect. In fact all of the characters are very well written. It isn’t a very long book and yet every character feels real and well developed, and as a reader you do feel like you know the character even if you meet them very briefly.
The relationship between Nana and Satoru is also lovely to see grow and develop over the book. It is again one based on mutual respect and Nana makes it very clear throughout the book that he stays with Satoru because he truly does love Satoru – but of course would never really admit it. Satoru never refers to Nana as his ‘pet’ but rather as his companion and his friend, which I also think is a lovely message. Satoru doesn’t force Nana to stay and gives him the freedom to be a cat and to be his own person (well…his own cat) and I think that is why their relationship and the journey they go on through the book is so lovely to see.
As I say, the book does have it’s moment of sadness, but each moment of sadness or struggle is also followed by a message of hope: That everything is temporary, both the good and the bad. The story focuses on the journey rather than the destination, and it really makes it clear how the people we meet can influence our lives – even in tiny little ways – without the message coming across as overly sentimental or forced. The overall take away from this book is to be kind to people, but to also be kind to yourself, and yet the message is told in a natural and obvious manner without trying to force it in your face or over inflate any aspect of it.
Taylor Talks Vegan 
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