Legendary cat gentleman and sometime writer, Tanizaki leans fully into his combined interests in this novella. A little jealousy, a little greed, a little haughtiness and Machiavellian planning. Are we talking about the human characters here or the cat? Or does the cat and people's personification of cat qualities allow these characters to embrace their own cat-like qualities? Or is the book secretly written by a cat to show off how it can manipulate the people around it? Some classic Tanizaki familial interactions and quotidian realism (Shozo borrows a broken lantern and makes some food for his obsessive cat stakeout!) feature here. ( )

A lovely miniature piece about a man who allows himself to be manipulated emotionally by his scheming tortoiseshell cat Lily, to the detriment of his relationships with both his first and his second wives. Tanizaki was obviously a close observer of cats as well as human beings... ( )

Unlike many others, I found the title story to be the least enjoyable. It is by no means bad as it explores some unique territory, but it doesn't hold me as well as most other works I've read by Tanizaki. I found the familiar flavor of the author's charm in "The Little Kingdom" and his usual weird meditations on obsession in "Professor Rado", but in the title story these two trademarks of his style were muddled if not absent altogether. ( )

My first foray into Japanese literature. Written between the First and Second World Wars this is a collection of one novella and two short stories.

The first is "A Cat, a Man and Two Women". In this we see the relationship between Shozo and the women in his life — his mother, first and second wives and Lily, the cat of the title. The second story is about a schoolteacher and how his aspirations wither as the demands of family life overpower his dreams. The third is a strangely voyeuristic piece written in two parts — the first part is an interview between a journalist and a professor and the second is about what happens when they meet again a few years later.

All three pieces are interesting snapshots of life. Of the three my favourite is the first. It is a story of love and rivalry and I like the descriptive nature of this. (4 stars) The second with its schoolteacher losing control of his own life I give 3 1/2 stars. The third was slightly disappointing, only a 3 star read. So overall a worthwhile introduction to Japanese literature. ( )

Loved it. Loved the description of the cat and how he is portraied in the novel. The relationship that estabelishes this love triangle is amazing. How both women are so geously of the little cat Lily and how the man perceives that. Truly geniously. The two other short stories are fine, but not compared with the first one in my opinion. ( )