"The Goodbye Cat" by Hiro Arikawa is a delightful collection of short stories centered around the bond between cats and their owners. Each story exudes wholesomeness and charm, and as a cat lover I could not put it down and read it cover to cover quickly! Arikawa skillfully presents the narratives from various viewpoints, with the ones from the perspective of cats being particularly endearing. Through these tales, readers witness the unique ways in which cats enrich our homes and lives. Whether you're a pet owner or not, these stories beautifully capture the essence of the bond between humans and their furry companions, showcasing how pets truly leave a lasting impact on our lives.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Be prepared to be moved. Be prepared to smile. Be prepared to flick a tear or two away. This anthology of cat stories is a must for cat lovers. Translated from Japanese, the stories are about the relationships humans have with their feline masters. They are all very different although there are two stories that are connected but approached from different angles with different cats. The cats are all memorable. The stories are emotionally satisfying and I learned a lot about Japanese culture from them.

Five purrs and two very enthusiastic paws up.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a nice follow on the first book and I liked the short story approach this time around. If you love healing cathartic stories that have a cat at the centre, this is definitely the read for you!

I spotted this title while browsing NetGalley. The Goodbye Cat is a companion to The Travelling Cat Chronicles. However, The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a novel, while The Goodbye Cat consists of seven short stories.

My favourite story was “Bad Father”. The father’s son narrates a story of his dad’s relationship with their family’s cats, the dad being a no-filter gruff likes what he likes and doesn’t like what he doesn’t like type of man… until later in life, as his health declines and his opinion on cats evolves.

Another story (“The Night Visitor”) is just a few pages, but it’s a cute lil story with a closing sentence that tied it up in a simple fun way.

Two of the stories connect back to The Travelling Cat Chronicles, which was kind of sweet. Because of that, I do recommend reading the novel before picking this up. It’s not strictly necessary, but frankly, I found this collection mediocre especially when compared to the original novel. So I can only recommend it if you loved The Travelling Cat Chronicle and really really love little stories about cats. The nature of the short stories means they don’t pack the same emotional punch as The Travelling Cat Chronicles. To me, The Goodbye Cat gives the impression of a writer trying to capitalize on the success of one of their books….

💭 The Bottom Line: Skip this one unless you’re quite enamoured with cats.

I loved "The Travelling Cat Chronicles" in which a man tries to find a new home for his beloved cat. The stories in this collection have a similar feel, in that there is much gentle behaviour, kindness, wisdom and love. And events from cats' perspectives.

The stories comprise situations such as:
-Two cats who try to become spirits
-A kitten who teaches his human how to be a good dad
-A cat who is oddly fond of the dad in the family
-An island of cats, upon which a boy finds a way to accept the changes in his life

What I had not expected was the connection to "Travelling Cat" in the form of Hachi and Nana, who make appearances in two of the stories.

Author Hiro Arikawa shows, in each story, how important each cat becomes to its family, and how family members are affected by the cat's affection. The families go through life experiencing changes, loss and joy, and the cats are often intrinsic to these moments, bringing comfort, or providing lessons in letting go.

This is a terrific collection of quiet stories, showing how cats living in the now brings happiness and calm to the people they live with. If you like cats, you'll definitely enjoy this collection.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.

The best way to describe this collection of stories is a celebration. Hiro Arikawa brings back some beloved characters from The Travelling Cats Chronicles and gifts us with the stories of five more cats. What these stories taught was the absolute magic that are cats!

For cat lovers, you will find the quirky love and devotion that you might have recognized from your own feline companion. You might also notice the unique empathy cats have toward those who truly need them. Every story depicted a totally different cat highlighting the different ways they enrich our homes and lives. For the pet owner in general, you’ll understand the way pets really become a part of our family and impact our lives in so many ways.

Knowing how much I loved The Travelling Cat Chronicles, I knew I had to read this anthology. The format, for me, made it slightly harder to connect to a couple of the stories, but the overarching themes of joy, devotion, overcoming grief and unconditional love carried through with every page.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for access to this eARC in return for an honest review.

This charming, calm, and at times melancholy collection of stories made for enjoyable and thoughtful reading. If you have (or have had) a cat in your life or just enjoy stories about families making their way through life, I’d recommend giving this one a try.

A sequel of sorts to The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Hiro Arikawa’s The Goodbye Cat is a collection of seven short stories, all revolving around cats (obviously!) and their humans. Set against the changing seasons and landscapes of Japan and amidst varying shades of emotions, all the stories come to life in their own way.

The eponymous first story, The Goodbye Cat, is possibly my top favourite of the lot. I loved reading about the playful little cat, Kota and its bond with the younger son of the family. Bringing Up Baby takes you into the story of how a kitten transforms the relationship of a couple who are also new parents.

Cat Island made me google if there indeed is an island that’s predominantly inhabited by cats! Another favourite of mine, The Night Visitor reads more like a soothing poem. It reminded me of how my cat used to wake me up in the middle of night, demanding to be petted or played with until he had had his fill.

Finding Hachi (referring to Satoru’s childhood cat from the first book) was a touching story. I loved reading about Hachi and how he spent his days after leaving Satoru. The last story, Life Is Not Always Kind, features Saturo and his cat, Nana – I was happy to get another dose of the duo. There’s something so comforting about the idea of them, man and cat, in their silver van, admiring the sights they pass as they travel from one place to another.

While the writing was a little too simple for my taste, I didn’t mind it as much in some of the stories. It lent the book a very light-hearted feel, a sense of calm…the way a cat can make you feel at peace when it rewards you with its presence. Another element I enjoyed was getting to read the cat’s perspective/thoughts! It’s so amusing and made me wonder if this might actually be what goes through a cat’s mind!

Although a sequel, I felt The Goodbye Cat could be read on its own. But, I’d highly recommend picking it up after reading the first book, because it might help you feel more deeply for the characters in the last two stories.

3.5/5

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomca for this eARC.

I absolutely loved "The Travelling Cat Chronicles", so I was thrilled to see the author had written another book. They manage to create stories from a cats POV that don't feel juvenile. Poignant and often heart-rending, I loved every minute of this.

I don’t often give five stars to short story collections, because I never find all of them equally good, but this one absolutely deserves it. All seven stories were beautiful in their own way, each in its own style and through its own point of view, sometimes through the cat’s eyes, sometimes from the humans’. Some of them will make you laugh, some will tug at your heartstrings, and a couple will turn you into a blubbering mess of snot and tears (Kota and Hachi, I’m looking at you!) But through all these different tales, the constants of family and a love for our feline pals remains.

I also recommend reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles first. As two of the seven short stories are about cats we meet in the previous book, they are much more impactful reading them knowing the surrounding story.

Such a lovely collection. I loved The Travelling Cat Chronicles and this is the perfect companion piece. The sketches add to the whole feel of the work. I had an ARC from NetGalley, devoured in quickly and have been driving my fellow bookseller colleagues crazy by talking so much about it. I can't wait to get it in store to sell to my regulars.

I have not read The Travelling Cat yet, but if it's like this one i'm bound to pick it up.
I think i had every single emotion a human can have during this book. I also cried, like a lot for a few reasons. This book was lovely, and I especially love how the last two stories intertwined the way that they did. I have yet to read a collection of stories that keeps me hooked and wanting to move to the next and the next. The lessons each story had to tell were wonderfully written and as a cat lover, I appreciated them greatly. When in need of a good cry I will be picking this up again.

This is a moving short story collection that shows the power of cats and how they can bring people together. I also loved getting little glimpses of Japanese culture, and I liked getting to know each cat as their own character with their individual journeys. Overall, this is a purr-fect book for cat lovers of all ages!

Another tear-jerking and moving book — the translation was written very well from the Japanese — following the lives of seven different cats — you become attached to many of the cats as you read the stories. This book also allows us to see snippets of Japanese culture, beliefs and traditions that those not familiar with Japan may not know about. I liked that it is a book of short stories as it allows you to easily take a break from reading but feel like you have finished a section of the book. Two of the stories near the end of the book— looks at the backstory of Sotoru’s cat when he was little we also get a new story from Nana’s ( “Traveling Cat Chronicles”) POV — I enjoyed Nana’s story — I also found the first story about the cats Kota and Diana very moving and the story of the cat with the bad eye also was another favorite. A lovely book overall each story showing how cats help bring families and people together or contribute to the family dynamics . Enjoyed it throughly —Recommended!