Suisen, Gorô’s cat

Review of the book “Suisen, Gorô’s Cat”, by Aki Shimazaki

Shimazaki is an author who has the ability to make us love or dislike a character using only one thing: magic. Yes, it is that simple, because if already with the first and second part of the saga The shadow of the thistle It made us fall in love with Mitsuo and Mitsuko respectively, here it will be Gorô who catches us. Without magic I can’t explain any of this.

Suisen, Gorô’s cat It is a simple novel, with few pages, that creates addiction. We met its protagonist in the first part, Maximumwhen he meets Mitsuo and takes him to a hostess bar where Mitsuko works, the three of them went to the same high school together, but the joy of the reunion is not present in the same proportion.

Gorô is the president of the liquor company his grandfather founded and is proud of the life he leads. He has the perfect woman for him, that is, submissive, quiet and who does not protest about her continuous outings and parties with clients. He has two lovers, he boasts that he has always been like that, he needs them two by two, otherwise he doesn’t enjoy life. He has a daughter who studies music and whom he will soon choose a husband, and a son in high school who he hopes will succeed him as president. And he has the walls of his office full of photographs of famous, rich and powerful people.

Life is just perfect.

Suisen, Gorô’s cat It is a wonderful read, you start with a feeling of revulsion towards its protagonist and little by little, without realizing it, Shimazaki gets you to see him with different eyes. But it is not because it makes us accept his womanizing/misogynistic condition as something good or acceptable, but rather, at the same time that Gorô matures, we do so with him.

“You are a wounded Child,” one of his lovers tells him; but he doesn’t understand the meaning of the phrase until it’s almost, too late.

When the universe conspires against you, everything comes at once (the good, the bad and the worst), and that’s what happens in Suisen, Gorô’s cat, that suddenly, everything goes to hell, everything starts to go wrong and decisions will have to be made.

It already happened to me with “Azami, Mitsuko’s Club” and “Hôzuki, Mitsuko’s Bookstore”, the first and second parts respectively of “The Shadow of the Thistle”, they have a mysterious halo that doesn’t let you go. In a few pages you already know the characters, you already feel them real and after finishing knowing their story, you need to know more. And in Suisen, Gorô’s cat the same thing happens.

The three stories are linked. The first focuses on Mitsuo’s life, and while we get to know him we will do the same with Mitsuko (Gorô here is just a uniting element) and the story tells us about youthful loves and marriages that no longer work, but those we cling to out of necessity. The second focuses on Mitsuko, her life after the events with Mitsuo, which turns out to be a wonderful story that talks about motherhood from a realistic and respectful perspective.

and now it comes Suisen, Gorô’s cat and returns us to a character who was always unpleasant, to make us look at life from the other side of the mirror.

And the cat in the title? That’s what you’re wondering… throughout the novel we see Gorô come across a feline, a vagabond, black as a brand, who insists on entering his garden… and I can read that far… you’ll have to go deeper. Suisen, Gorô’s cat to know why it deserves to appear there.

I am looking forward to Nórdica Libros publishing the fourth and fifth installment of this saga that takes us on a trip to the Japanese country and allows us to better understand its customs and culture. Wonderful.