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sofiaxaguilar's review
4.0
"I Am a Cat" by Sōseki Natsume is a satirical novel written in the early 1900s, and presents a commentary on Japanese society during the Meiji period through the eyes of a cat without a name. Throughout ten chapters originally released in periodical installments, the book truly holds up a mirror to society and reveals the human idiosyncracies that may not be considered odd and frivolous to us, but certainly perhaps, to a cat.
When I first picked up this book in New York, I was not at all aware of its rather old nature, because it appeared to be a relatively new book at the time. As a result, I was unused to the style of writing that Natsume employed, which was prone to rambling about events occurring right after another, leaving little room for me as a reader to clear my head or take a break. If I had, I feared that I would lose the cat's train of thought and be forced to return to the beginning of the chapter, each of which seemed endlessly long. However, the length made sense when I discovered that Natsume had never intended the story to be an entire book, but had released each stand-alone chapter to his friend's literary magazine. Without this context, I most likely would not have enjoyed "I Am a Cat" as much as I had because it is unlike any other classic book I have read, due to its unique plot and choice of language.
That said, I admired Natsume's skill, because though the chapters felt long-winded, what the cat was talking about was interesting and engaging to me. One event in the book in particular stood out to me because of how familiar it was to my own life, when cat's master's wife is trying to wake up her husband, Mr. Sneaze. Unfortunately for the wife, Mr. Sneaze is undeniably lazy and bitterly despises rising so early in the morning, despite being a school teacher for many years. The wife keeps nagging Mr. Sneaze with her broom trying to wake him up, while their three daughters are "eating" in the kitchen. The most revolting part was the littlest daughter guzzling her rice and spilling it all over her face, and then the second oldest picking the rice off and then eating it herself. This theme of the chaotic nature of a morning when conflict arises between the husband and wife and children was comedic to me because of how true it remains, even a century later. I suppose that some aspects of life never fade with time.
The cat's voice made me laugh more than I care to admit, for it carried with it a certain tone that sounded like he considered himself (and all cats, really) above the human race. In one instance, the cat observes Mr. Sneaze staring at himself in the mirror and admitting out loud how ugly he is. The cat says as follows: "I must say his acknowledgement of his own repulsiveness merits praise. Judging by appearances, his behavior is that of a madman, but what he says rings true. It struck me that if he goes one step further down this thorny path, he will be horrified by his own ugliness." The cat's commentary was truly entertaining, and more than once I wanted to laugh out loud, which I hardly ever do while reading.
I feel that I would want to read this again someday to truly grasp everything, because this time through I was so anxious to reach the end that I did not really appreciate it as much as I could have. I highly recommend "I Am a Cat" for those who are searching for a challenge or are interested in classic Japanese literature, because though it was long, it was a fun and entertaining read to see our human society in a different way.
When I first picked up this book in New York, I was not at all aware of its rather old nature, because it appeared to be a relatively new book at the time. As a result, I was unused to the style of writing that Natsume employed, which was prone to rambling about events occurring right after another, leaving little room for me as a reader to clear my head or take a break. If I had, I feared that I would lose the cat's train of thought and be forced to return to the beginning of the chapter, each of which seemed endlessly long. However, the length made sense when I discovered that Natsume had never intended the story to be an entire book, but had released each stand-alone chapter to his friend's literary magazine. Without this context, I most likely would not have enjoyed "I Am a Cat" as much as I had because it is unlike any other classic book I have read, due to its unique plot and choice of language.
That said, I admired Natsume's skill, because though the chapters felt long-winded, what the cat was talking about was interesting and engaging to me. One event in the book in particular stood out to me because of how familiar it was to my own life, when cat's master's wife is trying to wake up her husband, Mr. Sneaze. Unfortunately for the wife, Mr. Sneaze is undeniably lazy and bitterly despises rising so early in the morning, despite being a school teacher for many years. The wife keeps nagging Mr. Sneaze with her broom trying to wake him up, while their three daughters are "eating" in the kitchen. The most revolting part was the littlest daughter guzzling her rice and spilling it all over her face, and then the second oldest picking the rice off and then eating it herself. This theme of the chaotic nature of a morning when conflict arises between the husband and wife and children was comedic to me because of how true it remains, even a century later. I suppose that some aspects of life never fade with time.
The cat's voice made me laugh more than I care to admit, for it carried with it a certain tone that sounded like he considered himself (and all cats, really) above the human race. In one instance, the cat observes Mr. Sneaze staring at himself in the mirror and admitting out loud how ugly he is. The cat says as follows: "I must say his acknowledgement of his own repulsiveness merits praise. Judging by appearances, his behavior is that of a madman, but what he says rings true. It struck me that if he goes one step further down this thorny path, he will be horrified by his own ugliness." The cat's commentary was truly entertaining, and more than once I wanted to laugh out loud, which I hardly ever do while reading.
I feel that I would want to read this again someday to truly grasp everything, because this time through I was so anxious to reach the end that I did not really appreciate it as much as I could have. I highly recommend "I Am a Cat" for those who are searching for a challenge or are interested in classic Japanese literature, because though it was long, it was a fun and entertaining read to see our human society in a different way.
mmathis's review
3.0
A classic of Japanese literature told from the perspective of a cat observing the selfishness and ridiculousness of humans.
janhicks's review
3.0
What a meandering read. And what an ending. I enjoyed parts of this book, but never fully cared about any of the characters. This made it harder to get through. I also didn't like the way it changed from being the catlike viewpoint of the cat, to being the anthropomorphised viewpoint of the cat, to finally being a series of observations that happened to be presented as being the viewpoint of the cat. I'm glad I read other works by Sōseki first, because if this had been my first encounter with him, I might have wondered what the fuss was about.
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