El gato que venía del cielo / The Guest Cat

About El gato que venía del cielo / The Guest Cat

La novela japonesa que deslumbró al premio Nobel de Literatura Kenzaburo Oé y que ocupa siempre los primeros lugares de venta en Latinoamérica, Francia y Estados Unidos.

«Una hermosa lectura, llena de observaciones filosóficas, humor e inteligencia.» Publishers Weekly

Una casa y un jardín tocados con la gracia de una belleza de otro tiempo. Una pareja que se refugia en su nueva vida lejos de la agitación de Tokio. Un gato enigmático que entra de improviso en su cocina y decide adoptarles como dueños, convirtiéndose en el centro de una intriga sutil.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

A wonderful sui generis novel about a visiting cat who brings joy into a couple’s life in Tokyo

A winner of Japan’s Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. A couple in their thirties live in a small, rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife ― the days have more light and color. The novel brims with new small joys and many moments of staggering poetic beauty, but then something happens….

As Kenzaburo Oe has remarked, Takashi Hiraide’s work “really shines.” His poetry, which is remarkably cross-hatched with beauty, has been acclaimed here for “its seemingly endless string of shape-shifting objects and experiences, whose splintering effect is enacted via a unique combination of speed and minutiae.”