If Cats Disappeared From The World
- edgarm974
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Welcome back to another post for Beyond Myself. I hope all who are reading had an enjoyable summer break. This is my first post back, so give me a little grace if I'm a little washed. Anyways, keep reading.
Ideally, the title of this post caught your attention, just like the title of the book this entry is about did to me. If Cats Disappeared From The World is a 2012 novel written by Genki Kawamura. It follows a 30-year-old postal worker who learns that he has a brain tumor. Stage 4 at that. The doctor gives him about 6 months to live tops, but lucky if he makes it another week. When he goes home shortly after the worst news of his life, he's met by someone who looks just like him but in a nice Hawaiian shirt, who identifies themself as the devil. The devil offers him an out: "All you have to do is remove one thing from the world, and in return, you'll get one more day of life."
Now hear me out, if this premise interests you at all, I implore you to go get this book (shown below). Anything after this will be in spoiler territory so proceed with caution. Hell, contact me and I'll happily lend you my copy. I can't recommend this book enough. It's about 170 pages and a nice read you can finish within an afternoon. Personally, I read it on a flight to Texas and imagine the poor couple right next to me watching a grown man bawl his eyes out.
The devil's deal sounds simple enough at first. Our protagonist is essentially on his deathbed, and just one more day, no matter the cost, sounds like a no-brainer, right? Only exacerbated by the fact that upon meeting, the devil tells him that he actually dies tomorrow. Given this information, our protagonist decides to go through with the deal with the devil (called Aloha due to his wardrobe choices). At first, he offers small things to erase from the world: the stains on his walls, the dust on top of bookshelves, and the mold growing on bathroom tiles. Of course, this deal came with the caveat that Aloha decides what goes, not our protagonist.
The first item to go is phones. Aloha deems phones to be an item we don't need and gracefully allows one more phone call before they're eradicated. Our protagonist scrolls through his contact list and comes to the brutal realization that he didn't truly share a connection with anyone on his list. Eventually, he makes a call to someone whom he doesn't reveal until a couple of pages later, but it turns out to be his ex-girlfriend. This chapter also serves to give backstory regarding his late mother and a cat they rescued named "Cabbage" that our
protagonist still cares for.
Come to find out, he called his ex to see her one last time and break the news to her. The entire second chapter/ Tuesday in the verse is spent with the two of them talking about old times and enjoying what was, even when they decided to end things. Their day ends with the two walking to her home, a movie theater she has aspired to run since childhood. She offers an after-hours screening of our protagonist's favorite movie at 9 pm. And with that, their (date??) ends on a high note.
Though why would I read anything that makes me happy? Of course, Aloha is right there to mess things up minutes later. The next item offered to disappear in exchange for one more day is movies.
I'd argue this is the tonal shift of the book; we're already listening to the woes and reflections of a dying man trying to make the best of what he can with the life he's lived. Add in Aloha coming in and taking this twisted pleasure in taking away things that our protagonist is attempting to enjoy, just makes it worse. Aloha seemed polite and kind at first, but in this context, choosing this item makes it feel like a deeply personal attack. Our protagonist has to truly begin to think about what one more day of kicking and breathing means as each thing he enjoys is plucked away.
I'm not going to walk through each day and describe every minute detail. One, because I enjoy my time, and two, I want you to enjoy this novel on its own merits. My overview simply won't be enough to get the real experience of this book, but I can certainly try.
The next item to go is clocks. Very ironic too that the man who wants nothing more than time decides to erase the very thing he yearns for. He spends the day with Cabbage (who now talks like a human?) and reminisces about their shared time with his late mother. Saving another cat named Lettuce, an almost ruined last meal on vacation, hospital bed conversations about their fractured family, etc. Unfortunately, Cabbage only remembers small fragments of extremely important moments for our protagonist and his mother. Which, to be fair, how good did he expect feline memory to be? And yes, cabbage talks now, get over it. The book does so very quickly after Aloha decides he just wants to do that.
This entire chapter/day is devoted to his late mother, and it's where the waterworks kicked in hard. If you've ever had the misfortune of losing someone, I think you'll understand my reaction. It's a beautiful chapter dedicated to the memories he still has and the depressingly fun nature of them. It's the perfect swirl of sweet moments, but the inevitability of your loss.
Now, at this point, I'm already a mess in my airplane seat, I have tears running down my face, and I'm sniffling like I have the worst cold in my life. I think I was a couple of tears away from getting removed from the plane if I'm being honest. If that wasn't enough, Aloha comes out of the blue once more and hits me with the knockout.
Aloha wants to get rid of cats.
Thank God that our protagonist draws the line here. Cats mean something to him beyond just pets; they are tied to his mother's memory. Cabbage is quite literally his only companion and one of the few who's been with him. The protagonist himself can't even fathom the idea of losing his mother but add on Lettuce (who's long passed) and Cabbage. To do away with cats is to do away with one of the only things he actually cares about.
The remainder of the ending is for me to know and for you to find out. As I said, this book can only be done justice by reading what it has to say, definitely not through me. I closed this book still a little wrecked, running through my own mental list of what I'd give up. It's a fair question to ask: What would you give in order to live for one more day? I'm still not sure if I have a good answer for what I'd give up for one more day, but this book made me sit with the question rather than brushing it off.
Overall, this book was great. It's a short read, and I would've loved to see the real-world consequences of removing the items. Does the world get worse the longer they're gone? Does it matter to anyone else? Do items come back if the caster dies? It's a minor gap in the world-building, but a real one. None of that matters much next to the aspects of the book that do work, and the biggest of those is right there in the title.
Cats are the reason this book has the meaning and name it does, and I think that's the right place for me to stop talking and for you to start reading.
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