By Marika Koike
Vertical, 190 pp.
Rating: unrated

The story takes place immediately after World War II. Masayo, a poor country girl hoping to move to Tokyo to study art, decides to take a position as a live-in tutor at the house of a famous art professor named Goro. The situation is ideal since Masayo not only has lodging and a job, but also gets weekly lessons from the great artist himself, a charismatic young widower. Masayo begins to entertain fantasies about the two of them together when her life is shattered by the appearance of Chinatsu, a beautiful young woman with whom Goro seems to be very taken. Masayo’s only hope against Chinatsu is Goro’s young daughter Momoko, a quiet, introverted young girl whose best friend in the world is her pet cat, Lala. Momoko hates Chinatsu, Masayo hates Chinatsu, and all three girls adore Goro. And then there’s Lala.

Aside from a framing device (Masayo, as an older and successful artist, is recounting the tale to her part-time maid), the story is about as straightforward as it sounds. It starts off describing Masayo’s life in her rural home town and how her best friend has a rich uncle who happens to be a famous artist in need of a tutor for his daughter. Masayo moves into his opulent house and develops a routine as well as a slowly growing, but shallow, attraction to Goro. The more interesting story is her interaction with Momoko. Momoko shuts Masayo out at first, but the two connect and become friends almost immediately after they share a strange but special moment.

I feel like the story isn’t very fair to Chinatsu, who shows up relatively soon after Masayo’s breakthrough with Momoko and is described as the most beautiful and charismatic person Masayo has ever seen. Because the story is being told by Masayo, who is of course a jealous youth, Chinatsu is almost always cast in a very negative light. She tries very hard to be polite and kind to both Momoko and Masayo, but through Masayo’s eyes, her kindness always seems calculated and her attempts to reach out to Momoko are shallow. It helps that Chinatsu hates cats, since Momoko also shuts her out for that reason, but Chinatsu isn’t really evil. She just has trouble finding a place in the house, and suffers for being the romantic rival of the storyteller.

There is a lot of buildup, and I wasn’t very clear on where it was going since it was obvious that neither Goro’s love for Chinatsu nor Momoko’s hate for her were going to change. Two rather shocking things happen, a catalyst that rocks the boat too far, and the reaction to it, which serves as the climax of the story. While I can’t say I saw them coming, I wasn’t entirely surprised by either action, either. Both twists fit rather comfortably in the story. There are some shocking truths that come out afterwards, too, but by the time the story got to those, my interest was mostly spent, and the wind-down after the climax is minimal.

My only problem is that the story is too straightforward. It’s simple, and except for the two twists at the ending, there isn’t anything terribly remarkable about the lives of Masayo, Goro, or Chinatsu. Momoko and Lala are the most interesting characters, but because of their natures we never really learn all that much about them. It’s a very quick read, though, and the twists at the end, while neither are entirely unexpected, make the book entertaining enough to justify the time investment.

The Cat in the Coffin is available now.