'Careful, elegant and lovely . . . unusually intimate, detailed and vivid' New York Times 'Lyrical and captivating . . . I will revisit The Guest Cat with pleasure, much as I return to favourite poems and paintings and memories' Huffington Post 'This is a beautiful, ornate read, brimming with philosophical observation, humor and intelligence' Publishers Weekly 'Takashi Hiraide, the Japanese poet and novelist, blindsided me. His prose - so illuminating and achingly poetic - made me care. Damn it, it made me care a lot' NPR