There was something incredibly satisfying about discovering that one of my favourite writers loves cats. Why? Because I love cats too. But I think it’s also something to do with the relationship that exists between cats and writers that offers validity for my intrinsic belief in this writer, Muriel Barbery. For me if a writer loves cats then they must be a good writer! It is a statement without substantiation, I know, for if I extrapolate it back it means that because I love cats then I must be a good writer. Sadly, I’m not.
This volume presents as deceptively simple on the surface, A cute little picture book about cats with some amusing cartoonlike drawings? Oh, look again. Delve a little deeper. Especially if you are a writer. For you will find the most acute and perceptive observations about the nature of writers. Okay, I hear you ask, so what have cats got to do with it? The entire book is narrated by a cat! One of the author’s four Chartreux cats, Kirin. Kirin introduces us to the other three cats, Ocha, Mizu, and Petrus but she also allows us a glimpse into the life and work of the writer.
The premise of the book is that the cats are actually literary consultants! They use their feline wiles to approve or disapprove of portions of the author’s manuscripts. It’s an absolute delight. It’s witty and clever. It reveals a high level of the author’s self-awareness. But it also highlights so many of those traits that writers possess - restlessness, doubt and denial. The cats call them afflictions but I do believe that without them much would not be written!
I’m in danger of revealing too much perhaps and it would be a shame because one of the delights of this book is discovering that each page is an absolute gem. From a literary sense, certainly, but of course the book would be incomplete without the wonderful drawings by Maria Guitart. I am inclined to suggest that she too is a cat lover for with startling simplicity she has caught whiskered expressions and angles of tails that any lover and observer of cats will recognise and smile at.
There is an elegance to the book, (no hedgehogs though😉) that celebrate the wisdom, the sagacity and the sheer beingness of cats alongside the nature of writing and books, and certainly in this instance, the fusion of all of those that allows Muriel Barbery to produce the stunning work that she does.
I’m absolutely besotted with this book. It’s a delight to turn each page. It’s the perfect book for cat lovers and for writers.
My thanks to Gallic books for a gifted copy.
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