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Fuuta arrived in the afterlife following 19 wonderful years with his humans. He particularly misses Michiru, who was just a baby when Papa rescued Fuuta on a frigid night. Although the newly deceased must wait seven months to visit their left-behind beloveds, Fuuta gets hired at Café Pont where, if he can complete five tasks, he can reconnect with Michiru sooner. Café Pont, as in bridge, exists in-between, allowing customers to request otherworldly meetings. The messenger cat must escort the asked-for’s soul to the client for a brief reunion. Fuuta’s five assignments include an artist daughter and her father, a teacher and the daughter she couldn’t have, a former singer and an old boyfriend, a middle-aged man and his long-ago teacher, and two ex-bffs. Fuuta faces plenty of challenges but also manages to develop rewarding otherworld relationships, particularly fellow feline Natsuki. Shimeno, who is a café owner in Tokyo, provides quite the reassuring balm for readers forever bonded to their felines. Jean charmingly translates, admitting that Cat was “the first novel to make her cry on the job.”

Library Journal
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There is a small café where the living can request meetings with those they've lost; if they're lucky, the spirits of housecats travel to the land of the dead to deliver messages. Fuuta is one such cat, hoping to complete five missions for the privilege of visiting his beloved owner. However, the café manager enjoys giving him tricky cases that require all his wits and cleverness. Throughout his encounters, Fuuta remains completely a cat, a quality which narrator Lounibos captures in his performance. Fuuta often audibly makes it clear that he doesn't truly understand the whys of human desires, and, of course, he is utterly distractible. Naps, butterflies, and avoiding loud children seem more important than the missions themselves, but Fuuta persists through sheer determination to reunite with his family. The voice Lounibos gives him is a bit goofy, creating a charming contrast between his feline thought processes and the emotional needs of his human clients. VERDICT In his English-language debut, Shimeno offers glimpses of the fascinating afterlives of cats, which even include romance and red-ribboned witch cats. Cat lovers and the life-weary will enjoy this story, which serves as a reminder that the universe can be whimsical and kind.—Matthew Galloway

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Shimeno's English-language debut, the recently deceased cat Fuuta arrives in the afterlife to discover that the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead can be traversed. He can even reunite with his beloved owner, Michiru, as long as he waits the required seven months before visiting. Determined to see Michiru sooner than that, Fuuta takes a job at Café Pont as a messenger cat, a position in which he arranges encounters, of a sort, between individuals for whom a direct meeting is impossible. If he successfully delivers five messages, he can visit the world of the living as a reward. Fuuta's deliveries need a level of discretion and finesse as to not disturb the delicate balance of each world; it takes investigation, planning, and creativity to complete them. Although Shimeno's writing can be simplistic, this is a charming read that skillfully balances the idealistic worldbuilding and lighthearted perspective of its cat narrator with emotional encounters and the bittersweet reality of life and death. VERDICT Heartwarming without shying away from serious issues, Shimeno's book is a welcome addition to the growing ranks of healing fiction. Recommended for general purchase, especially where other cat-centered titles circulate well.—Jennifer Renken