{"product_id":"haruki-murakami-abandoning-a-cat-2026","title":"Haruki Murakami: Abandoning a Cat [2026]","description":"A beautifully illustrated edition of the internationally bestselling author''s\u003cbr\u003emeditation on memory and family.\u003cbr\u003eIn this meditation on memory and what makes us who we are, Haruki Murakami\u003cbr\u003erecalls his relationship with his father – the son of a priest who might have\u003cbr\u003ebecome a priest himself had a clerical error not sent him to fight in the Second\u003cbr\u003eWorld War. Murakami’s father wrote accomplished haiku and eventually became\u003cbr\u003ea teacher, but as Haruki grew older they found they had less and less in\u003cbr\u003ecommon. They went on to be estranged for twenty years, only reconciling on his\u003cbr\u003efather’s deathbed.\u003cbr\u003eThis haunting personal essay is a reflection on what it means to be a father and\u003cbr\u003ewhat it means to be a son – on what it means to be loved and to be abandoned\u003cbr\u003e– and a meditation on a particular era of Japanese history, through the aftermath\u003cbr\u003eof the Second World War and on into the present. It is a beautiful short work of\u003cbr\u003efamily history from one of the world’s most beloved, iconic writers.\u003cbr\u003e‘The world’s most popular cult novelist’ Observer\u003cbr\u003e‘A master storyteller’ Sunday Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1978, Haruki Murakami was twenty-nine and running a jazz bar in downtown\u003cbr\u003eTokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while\u003cbr\u003ewatching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new\u003cbr\u003ewriters'' award and was published the following year. More followed, including A\u003cbr\u003eWild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it\u003cbr\u003ewas Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, that turned Murakami from a writer\u003cbr\u003einto a phenomenon.\u003cbr\u003eIn works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84, What I Talk About When\u003cbr\u003eI Talk About Running and Men Without Women, Murakami''s distinctive blend of\u003cbr\u003ethe mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to\u003cbr\u003eenchant readers, ensuring his place as one of the world''s most acclaimed and\u003cbr\u003ewell-loved writers.","brand":"Murakami, Haruki \u0026 Gabriel, Philip","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":54736859660627,"sku":"9781787305724","price":17.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/murakami-haruki-gabriel-philip-haruki-murakami-abandoning-a-cat-2026-9781787305724-1255873140.jpg?v=1787756471","url":"https:\/\/theirishbookshop.live\/products\/haruki-murakami-abandoning-a-cat-2026","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}