Abandoning a Cat
- Author
- Haruki Murakami
- Narrator
- Kotaro Watanabe
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 20 October 2026
- Run Time
- 1 hour 18 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
The internationally bestselling author's meditation on memory and family.
In this meditation on memory and what makes us who we are, Haruki Murakami recalls his relationship with his father – the son of a priest who might have become a priest himself had a clerical error not sent him to fight in the Second World War. Murakami’s father wrote accomplished haiku and eventually became a teacher, but as Haruki grew older they found they had less and less in common. They went on to be estranged for twenty years, only reconciling on his father’s deathbed.
This haunting personal essay is a reflection on what it means to be a father and what it means to be a son – on what it means to be loved and to be abandoned – and a meditation on a particular era of Japanese history, through the aftermath of the Second World War and on into the present. It is a beautiful short work of family history from one of the world’s most beloved, iconic writers.
‘The world’s most popular cult novelist’ Observer
‘A master storyteller’ Sunday Times
© Haruki Murakami 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
Critics Review
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His imagination is one of a kind
Washington Post
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No other author mixes domestic, fantastic and esoteric elements into such weirdly bewitching shades
Financial Times
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The world's most popular cult novelist
Observer
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Haruki Murakami
- Narrator
- Kotaro Watanabe
- Duration
- 1 hour 18 minutes
- Release Date
- 20 October 2026
- ISBN
- 9781529991444
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Memoirs, Autobiography: writers, Relationships and families: advice, topics and issues, Cats as pets
Synopsis
<p><b>The internationally bestselling author's meditation on memory and family.</b></p><p>In this meditation on memory and what makes us who we are, Haruki Murakami recalls his relationship with his father – the son of a priest who might have become a priest himself had a clerical error not sent him to fight in the Second World War. Murakami’s father wrote accomplished haiku and eventually became a teacher, but as Haruki grew older they found they had less and less in common. They went on to be estranged for twenty years, only reconciling on his father’s deathbed.</p><p>This haunting personal essay is a reflection on what it means to be a father and what it means to be a son – on what it means to be loved and to be abandoned – and a meditation on a particular era of Japanese history, through the aftermath of the Second World War and on into the present. It is a beautiful short work of family history from one of the world’s most beloved, iconic writers.</p><p><b>‘The world’s most popular cult novelist’ <i>Observer</i></b></p><p><b>‘A master storyteller’ <i>Sunday Times</i></b></p><p>© Haruki Murakami 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026</p>
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