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    I Am A Cat
    I Am A Cat
    I Am A Cat
    Audiobook21 hours

    I Am A Cat

    Written by Natsume Soseki

    Narrated by David Shih

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Written over the course of 1904-1906, Soseki Natsume's comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle-class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments on the follies and foibles of the people around him.

    A classic of Japanese literature, I Am a Cat is one of Soseki's best-known novels. Considered by many as the greatest writer in modern Japanese history, Soseki's I Am a Cat is a classic novel sure to be enjoyed for years to come.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    TranslatorAiko Ito and Graeme Wilson
    Release dateMar 17, 2020
    ISBN9781515940142
    Author

    Natsume Soseki

    Natsume Sōseki, seudónimo literario de Natsume Kinnosuke, nació en 1867 cerca de Edo (la actual Tokio). Descendiente de una familia de samuráis venida a menos, fue el menor de seis hermanos. Cuando tenía dos años, sus padres lo entregaron en adopción a uno de sus sirvientes y a su mujer, con quienes viviría hasta los nueve años.

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    Reviews for I Am A Cat

    3.5/5

    326 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Pure entertainment, wonderfully read, and a fascinating window on life in another time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      It did not age well.
      It has some fun moments mocking the ironic and moronic lives of his humans, yet it is full of misogynistic lines and ideologies that are, sadly, still a reality, not only in Japan, but around the world.
    • 2/5
      A "reasonable chuckle". There is a time barrier of a century, cultural barrier of half a planet and a language barrier of thousands of years (of separation between languages) - these might interfere with my appreciation of the book which I imagine had been of more value to its original audience.
    • 4/5
      This book was written in installments to be published in a periodical, and because of this is nearly plotless, focusing mostly on the personal foibles of a group of middle-class members of society. Beyond a bit at the beginning and at the end and a few very brief interludes the author rarely alludes to the idea of a story narrated by an anonymous cat. Most of it might as well have been related by a human third-person viewer, one who never takes part in the dialogue and who has a comically dry, detached viewpoint, nearly a fly on the wall. This cat follows this one and that one without self-interest but mainly to witness the ordinary behavior of these individuals, each self-absorbed in their own way.

      It is pretty long in book form but the episodic nature makes it pretty easy to digest in little doses over a long time, more or less the way it was written. In this translation, there are recurring characters whose names have been approximated in English, the cat's owner Sneaze and his family, the perpetual student and suitor Coldmoon, and so forth. The author writes with a lot of self awareness, such as the time when one character tells a long and pointless story periodically interrrupted by the objections of those hearing it, which adds to the fun. Even the big events which take place fall short of being epic, such as the confrontation with the trespassing neighbor students, where he refrains on making any explicit comments on the components of society.

      The translation has a nice writing style, not too grotesque and not too old-fashioned, letting the farcical scenes speak for themselves. It was interesting to get a glimpse from time to time of what it was like at the very beginning of the twentieth century after some decades of contact with the West, although I wouldn't say that this was pervasive. The culture was just different enough to not be confusing or annoying, I think. One example of this was when Japanese or Chinese verse is dropped in during the midst of ordinary dialogue, which I wasn't sure whether was supposed to represent bad poetry, mediocre conventional poetry, or something else whenever it happened. There were other places where some notes could have been helpful so that I could get the full experience of what was being implied.

      In the end, I think it was a nice enough satire, but by its nature one does not feel like it's a must to read the whole thing.
    • 4/5
      This is a quirky, fun book to read. Written in the first person voice of a stray cat, it tells of the life of a poor English teacher in early 20th century Japan. The teacher has a collection of intellectual friends and the cat observes their foibles and fancies.Apparently enduringly popular in Japan, I found the book fascinating on two levels - what it says about life in Japan at the time, and for the parallels with life in other parts of the world. For some reason, I found it oddly reminiscent of dilettante life in Edwardian England - the same affected ennui, the same preoccupation with art or literature, the same carelessness over appearances, while carefully complying with appearance.I read in the author's bio that he spent an unhappy period in England as an adult student, with very limited social activity, so maybe he picked up more of life in England than he later claimed.Read July 2016
    • 5/5
      Reviewing this book is complicated for me because I had a fairly wide variety of reactions to it. First of all, I can best describe it as a Japanese version of "Waiting For Godot" although the play is fairly brief and this is a 470 page novel. It also is reminiscent of "La Nausee" by Albert Camus. It is a narration of the absolute absurdity of human beings, as perceived by the narrator, who is a cat without a name. It is filled with Dickensian characters such as Beauchamp Blowlamp, the Goldfields (wealthy snobs), and Mr. Sneaze (a self-absorbed hypochondriac and owner of the unnamed cat), just to name a few. I laughed out loud more times than I can count and sent a list of favorite quotes about cats to my feline loving brother. Witty, existential, uncomfortable, confusing, and profound. Originally published in installments, I can see how the length was irrelevant at the time of the original publication. And frankly, I cannot say what I would cut!! I thought about giving it four stars because it dragged at times, but I ended up giving it five stars because it is unique, because it is thought-provoking around the meaning of existence, because of the marvelous characters and lastly, because I do not often laugh out loud when reading, but the humor in this novel is marvelous and drew me through the slower parts quickly in anticipation of whatever would come next. Tough ending, but it worked.
    • 3/5
      What a meandering read. And what an ending. I enjoyed parts of this book, but never fully cared about any of the characters. This made it harder to get through. I also didn't like the way it changed from being the catlike viewpoint of the cat, to being the anthropomorphised viewpoint of the cat, to finally being a series of observations that happened to be presented as being the viewpoint of the cat. I'm glad I read other works by Sōseki first, because if this had been my first encounter with him, I might have wondered what the fuss was about.
    • 5/5
      Others have warned that the introduction to this book gives too much away. I agree. Resist the urge to read it, as major events are spelled out within the first page or so.

      I read the first volume of this many years ago and, remembering it very fondly, bought this edition of all three volumes in 1 as a little present to myself. Having looked at some of the reviews here on Goodreads, I was nervous that the second and third volumes might not stand up to the first. Happily, I found that I enjoyed them just as much. I'm not the kind of person who needs a traditional story arc/plot - just "visiting" with very interesting, well-written characters is enough for me. It doesn't bother me that no one, big, significant thing is worked out across these many pages - several small things happen that are almost always very interesting and often very funny. Sometimes the small things are connected, sometimes not. Much like life, really.

      Some reviewers said they didn't know enough about Japanese Meiji period life to get much out of this book. To me, that was irrelevant. Human beings have so many similarities, no matter the era or location, and I was struck by the many concerns we, in the Western world during the early years of the 21st century, have in common with this mishmash of characters in a Japan that was straddling an older, traditional society and the influence of the Western world, at the very beginning of the 20th century. I enjoyed immersing myself in those aspects of the story that were alien to me, learning something new about a foreign culture.

      The cat, whose inner thoughts we follow through his first and second years of life, is wonderfully grumpy - practically as curmudgeonly as his un-worldly Master - while also being astoundingly learned and insightful. I was particularly tickled by his extremely high opinion of himself and his abilities both mental - apparently fully justified - and physical - hilariously unjustified, if we consider his one rat-hunting attempt and various other clumsy falls and scrapes.

      I will be looking out for more Natsume Sōseki to read on the basis of this one.
    • 4/5
      Read on the airplane.

      A humorous and very feline book. One of the quirks of translation is that the word 'I' in the title refers to a word which in Japanese is reserved for nobility - such is the nature of cats.

      It's long and meandering, a bit dull at times - but the tone is distinctive, and remains uniquely catlike. When you hear the word 'my master', you almost think as though he's laughing at it.

      The ending is abrupt, but one might think that the author simply ran out of ideas, and ended it there. Still not a bad book by any definition.
    • 4/5
      I picked up I AM A CAT while browsing one day and almost put it back because I didn’t feel like reading a book of its heft (it's over 600 pages) at that moment. But I read the first few pages and realized I had a gem and finished the book in a couple of weeks. The first person (cat) voice of the narrative is inspired. Soseki Natsume offers an amusing commentary human nature particularly of academics and hypochondriacs. However, he also offers a closely observed and humorous commentary on cat behavior that can come only from living in close proximity to a cat. Moments when the cat describes his shock on seeing his first human with it’s horribly bald face, or his attempt to keep his dignity after finding the theft and eating of a sticky rice ball more difficult than he anticipated are priceless for their humor and vivid description. It is true, however, that as the book progresses the cat’s stories become increasingly focused on the humans around him.I am not in a position to offer an opinion on the translation, however, this book was my introduction to Soseki and I have since read several of his other works in various translations and find this book to be consistent with the style, tone and humor of that emerges from other translations of his writings. I also found I AM A CAT highly readable. It was originally published serially over many years, and the short vignettes it offers allow one to pick it up and put it down without losing the thread of an overarching story. Additionally, the format of many short stories allows some to be more humorous and other to be more philosophical even poignant and in the best of the stories all three at once. It is a highly imaginative, thoughtful and funny set of stories about human foibles.
    • 3/5
      Amusing concept, but tends to spend more time on the cat's master and his rather tiresome friends than on the cat itself.
    • 4/5
      Diverting and witty - this book is a kind of Japanese 'Diary of a Nobody', but angrier. Worth reading.
    • 4/5
      An intially difficult book to get into; but once you sync into its zone it's a very fun book. When the Cat talks about his routines and such it's not SO interesting, as the best parts are the long conversations with Sneeze, Waverhouse, Coldmoon, and co.. Well worth taking your time with.