I Am a Cat intrigues me with its unique topic, yet bores me with the writing style, and so I have decided to not continue reading the book. The book is moving at such a slow pace, that I find myself looking at the page numbers more than I do the text. In whole, the entire book seems interesting, but I refuse to read almost 500 pages of what could most likely be summarized in about 50. I blame whoever translated the book. I Am a Cat was originally written in Japanese, and I find the English translation to be butchered and monotonous. Possibly, in Japanese, the book is fluent and well written, for the Japan Quarterly called it “A well-loved work by a Japanese writer of genius”. However, I think that some of my peers may enjoy the book. I know some people are perfectly content with reading about a life style. Personally, I cannot stand books with no build-up to a climax and then a solution to a problem. I felt that the first half one of my favorite books, The Kite Runner, was like this as well, but, because of recommendations and the blurb, I stuck to it and did not regret it. The second half was far more thrilling and exciting. Another of my favorites, Water for Elephant, was also more about a way of life. However, it was a way of life I have a connection to. I was fascinated by the tales about how that way of life, which I have heard many first-hand accounts of, was many years back. I could connect what I knew to what I was learning, which kept me engrossed in what otherwise would have been a dull book.
Then why, one may ask, am I choosing not to continue this book if I have learned it is best to stick with books? Well, the past 45 pages, or so, have described purely how ignorant humans are, in addition to the narrators childish arguments with a neighboring cats, which are essentially about nothing—something I cannot say I enjoy reading, and I have little hope that the book will change much in the near future. To replace this book, I have begun reading The Secret of Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson, which has been proven to be a page turner.