2025 Readings 59

 Yesterday I finished reading Genki Kawamura's novel If Cats Disappeared from the World. This was another short work that I normally wouldn't have read, although I've traditionally read a lot of Japanese fiction, obviously. Barnes and Noble had a separate table next to the literature section that was devoted to what they labeled international fiction, which was both a welcome and somewhat odd choice. I grabbed a few books, all of which turned out to be short. Again, one of the things that I'm doing in this year of reading is tackling books that normally wouldn't be in my wheelhouse, which has proven to be a nice addition. If Cats Disappeared from the World was a bestseller, although I had never read an7 Kawamura work before. The protagonist of the story finds out he's going to die, and almost immediately. The devil, who looks exactly like him but in a much peppier Hawaiian shirt, makes him an offer: he gets one more day on earth for every single thing that he agrees to have disappear from the earth. It starts with cell phones, for which I'm in complete agreement (with that in mind, and thus apropos of less than nothing, my new regime is that I turn on the phone in the morning for some news and sports scrolling, and then I turn it off until the end of the day). With every object he's allowed to use it one last time, and so, in that instance, he takes the opportunity to call the first woman he loved. The reviews hinted at a profundity as the story unfolded which I don't think is a true observation, but it definitely did give me pause to reflect on certain things. I liked it a lot, so it's a definite recommended read.