what i’m reading: she and her cat by makoto shinkai

It’s been a long time since I have read a book on paper. I normally read everything on Kindle these days. Easier on my eyes and also, I can look up words in this built-in dictionary Kindle comes with which makes my life easier as a non-English speaker.

I even used an Japanese bookmark 🙂

She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai was the book which I picked up from Salvation Army for $3. I may be becoming a big fan of Japanese authors, Japanese stories and stories about cats because the author was unknown to me up until that time. It’s an incredibly heartwarming novel, I must say, about one neighbourhood, four women and four cats. Even though the title says ‘she and her cat’ there is more than one ‘she’ in this book. And it’s about human connection, loneliness, companionship and of course, cats. It’s amazing how much wisdom in this book is coming from the cats.

The author, Makoto Shinkai, is a very famous anime filmmaker from Japan. They talk about Your Name but I’ve never seen it. I’m also not a manga reader. So, this was his first novel, and it was translated by an award-winning translator: Ginny Tapley Takemori.

I really liked this book and here’s my highlights:

There is more than one ‘she’ as you can guess.

The heartbeats of she, me, and the world pulsed together as one.

The idea that words could change my world was a little scary.

The girls’ manga magazines we used to take turns reading at school always ended when the girl had got herself a boyfriend, but I discovered that’s not what happens in real life.

Even when you have a boyfriend, there are times when you feel terribly lonely, more so than when you didn’t have one.

Today, too, I skirted around what I really wanted to say, instead circling him like an artificial satellite.

I didn’t understand the meaning behind the sea of words; I just kept drifting on the surface.

This one unchanging pulse in the ever-changing world was a source of comfort to me.

(Kuro): So, have you started to fear death?
(Jon): I don’t fear death. It’s no different from sleeping—it’s like we practice dying every night.

A shooting star flashed in the distance and she thought of making a wish, but realised there were nothing left to hope for.

It’s your life, and you have to make sure you keep enough of it for yourself.