I Am a Cat Book

I've been a cat now for what seems like an eternity. If anyone asks you what it's like to be a cat, hand them a copy of the book and walk rapidly away. Reading the book has been a lot like having a cat as a pet -- occasionally delightful, sometimes insightful, and frequently annoying.

I Am a Cat was written by Japanese author Soseki Natsume at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. It's a gentle satire told from the point of view of a household cat in the home of a teacher of modest means and abilities. Most of the book listens in on the discussions the teacher, his wife, and his friends have about everyday life, love, and bureaucracy. It's more insightful than I feared it might be, but less engaging than I hoped it would be, mostly because the household that the cat occupies is a humdrum one. An occasional visitor provides most of the liveliness; he's a wit with a propensity for telling silly stories that promise a great payoff and usually fail to deliver. If you're curious about Japanese life around 1900 or you really, really, really love cats, then read the first 100 pages of this book. That will give you more than enough of an idea of the book as a whole.