We'll Prescribe You a Cat

De: Syou Ishida, E. Madison Shimoda - translator

Narrado por: Naruto Komatsu, Natsumi Kuroda

A USA Today Bestseller

A cat a day keeps the doctor away…

Discover the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel that has become an international sensation in this utterly charming, vibrant celebration of the healing power of cats.

Tucked away in an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can only be found by people who are struggling in their lives and genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they “take” their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, occasionally challenging yet endearing cats.

Throughout the book, the power of the human-animal bond is revealed as a disheartened businessman finds unexpected joy in physical labor, a young girl navigates the complexities of elementary school cliques, a middle-aged man struggles to stay relevant at work and home, a hardened bag designer seeks emotional balance, and a geisha finds herself unable to move on from the memory of her lost cat. As the clinic’s patients navigate their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them toward healing, self-discovery, and newfound hope.

©2024 Syou Ishida and E. Madison Shimoda (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Be prepared for six imaginative and whimsical stories about the animal-human bond. These stories need telling. … Cat lovers must read this heart-warming book of the power of pets to heal and to achieve self-discovery and hope."—New York Journal of Books

"A heartwarming testimony to the power of the human-animal connection, best read with your own pet (stuffed works too, in a pinch) snuggled up by your side."—People

"...what readers discover in Ishida’s writing is a deeply meaningful, vibrant celebration of the human-animal bond that speaks loudly in the modern world, where loneliness is an epidemic of its own. … We’ll Prescribe You a Cat might just possibly be what the doctor should order. Ishida’s stories are vibrantly written and real, and Ishida’s attentive prose captures cats’ eccentricities, majesties, and quirks that make them some of the best companions a person can have. Therefore, the collection is not simply a call to action regarding ethical cat adoption or a book that raises awareness about corporations’ cruelty to their employers—yes, those lessons also exist in the book! Instead, it is a book that draws attention to the fine line humans walk with the natural world and the healing effects nature—and one of nature’s creatures—can offer humans at a time when so many live severed from the natural world. Ishida’s playful, heartfelt stories are about interconnectedness, and they testify as to why it is important to love and respect all living creatures.”—Tupelo Quarterly

Fun, light-hearted story

I really enjoyed this book. The story was fun and light-hearted, but still had some good lessons to be learned within each character. I grew up with cats and this book makes me miss being a cat owner!

Japanese Magical Realism

What if the catalyst you need to change your life was something small but personalized. Like a cat.

Good Idea

This is a cute idea if you're a cat person, as I am, but I felt like it fell apart at the end.

perfection

I've been eagerly anticipating this for a couple of weeks and started it last night. I was trying to avoid reviewing it until I finished it, but still couldn't help posting on social media a couple of times to encourage friends to buy it. Now that I've finished it, I feel I didn't praise it enough.

By one hour into the narration, it had already hit all the points I hoped it would and seemed to be going exactly the direction I expected. This wasn't a disappointment to me, since the joy was less in where we were going as it was in the details of how we got there.

It did manage to surprise me a little by the end, which was an unexpected bonus. It's a delight through and through.

A warning to those with Auditory Processing Disorder and other disabilities that cause difficulty understanding unfamiliar accents: the narrators are Japanese. This means that their accents in American and British English (one each) are unfamiliar if you haven't heard Japanese people speak English before and can require a little extra effort. The accents are not thick and are understandable, and I felt they enhanced the performances by ensuring the places' and people's names are pronounced properly and consistently. However, you might want the Kindle version to read along with if that causes difficulty for you.

That's not a criticism, but rather a disability accommodation note. What I lost in energy to concentrate, I gained in not wincing every time a Japanese name or word was spoken. I do think it was the right choice.

The story is a joy from start to finish and at every point along the way.

Purrfect for Dedicated Feline Enthusiasts

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, Translated by E. Madison Shimoda is a short and fascinating book. The book presents a series of stories that seem unrelated at first and then are developed to interconnect later.

There are elements of magical realism and suggestions of darkness, even horror. I liked this book and I wish some of the characters and ideas had been given more, time, care, and development. This work could translate very well as a film, if the details could be fleshed out a bit more.

The narration performances by Naruto Komatsu and Natsumi Kuroda are very good and support and enhance the material on a high level.

Dedicated feline enthusiasts and fans of magical realism will enjoy this book. It is a wonderful break from everyday life and reality in general.

For the Cat (Animal) Lover

This is a delightful book that looks at how animals, here specifically cats, a very helpful to us humans in many ways. Cats (animals) can be and are extremely therapeutic. This book delves into the numerous ways that cats can help. While the stories are fictional there is scientific evidence that our fur babies do help us in numerous ways if we let them.

I must point out that I found the translation to be slightly on the chunky sounding side as things didn’t seem to flow as well as I felt they should. Overall though, this was an entertaining and thought provoking book.

good listen

it's about cats and I love cats. I would love to have been prescribed a cat. But many found their way to me.

Bring me THE cat

Very interesting. Each story added clues to the surprise. Like nothing I had read before.

wonderful

the stories all very heartwarming. I'm a psychotherapist, & I've "prescribed " the book to numerous clients.
thank you to the authors

So heartwarming and meaningful

This book grabbed my attention from the second I pressed play, very cozy and meaningful story, would 100% read again and recommend to anyone!