tags: humor, Japanese, satire
⭐⭐⭐⭐
from GoodReads
Written over the course of 1904-6, Soseki's comic masterpiece, " I Am a Cat," satirizes the follies 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.
"The New Yorker" called it "a nonchalant string of anecdotes and wisecracks, told by a fellow who doesn't have a name, and has never caught a mouse, and isn't much good for anything except watching human beings in action..."Reading this novel took me ages to finish which is unusual for me. The book is not bad at all, in fact it is very funny, engaging, and makes the reader wonder about and laugh out loud at people's absurd behavior. The nameless cat sometimes drones on and on but the stories it tells are interesting and sometimes, maybe most of the time, philosophical and political. A rest between reading portions is a must to fully enjoy the book. I like it enough to give it 4 stars.
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This video of cats reminds me of the time the kitty takes a bite of rice cake that gets stuck on its teeth. The nameless cat tries to remove it and fails miserably. The humans see him on hind legs spinning around like crazy. Poor kitty but it is hilarious.
