The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley

From Goodreads

In Tokyo - one of the world's largest megacities - a stray cat is wending her way through the back alleys. And, with each detour, she brushes up against the seemingly disparate lives of the city-dwellers, connecting them in unexpected ways.

But the city is changing. As it does, it pushes her to the margins where she chances upon a series of apparent strangers - from a homeless man squatting in an abandoned hotel, to a shut-in hermit afraid to leave his house, to a convenience store worker searching for love. The cat orbits Tokyo's denizens, drawing them ever closer.

In a series of spellbinding, interlocking narratives - with styles ranging from manga to footnotes - Nick Bradley has hewn a novel of interplay and estrangement; of survival and self-destruction; of the desire to belong and the need to escape. Formally inventive and slyly political, The Cat and The City is a lithe thrill-ride through the less-glimpsed streets of Tokyo.

My thoughts

This was another find on BorrowBox the e-book side of my local Library. You are allowed to borrow up to six books on top of the physical books that you might have on loan.

I gave this a 4 stars or 8/10.

This was an unusual and interesting set of short stories, set in Japan and all featuring a stray cat as an integral part of the story. This is a book that you can dip in and out of at will, as the length of the stories is such that they can be read over a cuppa or while waiting for the bus.

The stories give the reader a little insight into the Japanese way of life. Sometimes that random read you pick up, can turn into a little gem of a book and this was one of those.