This review is part of the Cat Series.

I bought the novella because of the cover: shades of blue, a man, and a cat. The original book in Japanese was published in 2012, with its movie adaptation in 2016. The English version was owned by Flatiron Books and translated by Eric Selland. This review is part of A Cat Series.

What if? This novella starts with a simple premise: a young post man has to die, and the devil shows to offer him one day of extra life in exchange to making one thing from the world. For each item, the young man contemplates about his mundane life, with his cat, Cabbage, accompanies him. His recall and nostalgia about his life, family, and ex-girlfriend is an almost typical theme in a story like this. But I think the calmness of the story gives each fragment a tender tone.

It is a gentle story, with much predictable plot and theme. I want to say it is cliche but the fact that I enjoy it without struggling too much is an appreciation. There is no odd or strange scenes, except Kawamura portrays the devil himself as humorous being. Nor there is a complex conflict. Cabbage, and the previous cat, Lettuce, appears in the story to gives a sense of belonging to the story and its character. The existence of the cats are significant to portray story about memory of the loved one and affection. This novella is another slice-of-life that makes readers calm and may appreciate the mundanity of everyday lives.

Some reviews of this book mentioned about the lost in translation–as the translator seemingly does not capture the nuance that Kawamura intended to do. Well, I cannot make an opinion regarding the issue, but I think I’ve outgrown such theme of story. It is beautiful, for sure, but my high consumption of slice-of-life manga and anime makes me think this novella is a common, typical model of the genre, instead of an exciting one (knowing that the hype for this book is considerably huge).

Nevertheless, it’s a nice-to-read book when you just want to relax and entertain yourself with mild story. You don’t have to think about existence, let the young post man does that.