The Writer’s Cats by Muriel Barberry - with Art Work by Maria Guitart - 2021- published by Europa Editions - translated from The French by Alison Anderson

 The Writer’s Cats by Muriel Barberry - with Art Work by Maria Guitart - 2021- published by Europa Editions  - translated from The French by Alison Anderson

In April 2009 I read for the first time The Elegance of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry.  I totally identified with the central character.  I wanted to see the reactions of others to the book.  A Google search brought me to the wonderful world of book bloggers.  I began to follow a number of blogs,getting involved in conversations.  I decided it might be fun to have my own book blog snd on July 9, 2009 I started The Reading Life.  I did not know it then but a new phase of my life had begun.

The Writer’s Cats is a charming, highly creative work narrated by one of the author’s four Chartreux cats.

“But first allow me to introduce our tribe. We are four Chartreux cats, which means we have gray fur and orange eyes. When our writer’s best friend saw us for the first time, he said, “They go nicely with the walls.”

 If you love cats you will adore this book.  We see what I take is Muriel Barberry’s daily work routine

“I’m Kirin. I’m four years old. The others are my brother Petrus, then Ocha (a male) and Mizu (a female), who are four years older than Petrus and me and are also brother and sister. We come from the same breeder; Ocha and Mizu’s father is one of our grandfathers—Petrus’s and mine, that is. We get along well, we are from the same family, after all. But we each have a distinct personality and, I might add, very individual neuroses.”

. We learn about the personalities of the other three cats.   We meet others in her life.  Of course being a cat, our narrator is not overwhelming impressed by his human companions.

From the publisher’s description 

“From the best-selling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes this delightful, delicate tale that pays tribute to the poetry of the everyday, to Japanese philosophy, and to the ingenuity and sardonic humor of cats. A superb, funny, and touching text for writers, readers, fans of Muriel Barbery’s best-selling novels, and cat lovers”

As I said, I liked this work a lot.  I suspect it will be mostly purchased by readers of The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  It is a whimsical near fey at times narrative.  The drawings add a lot.

Muriel Barbery is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Europa, 2008), and Gourmet Rhapsody, published by Europa Editions in 2009. She has lived in Kyoto, Amsterdam, and Paris, and now lives in the French countryside.