A Man & His Cat, book 3, by Umi Sakurai. Square Enix Co Ltd

The fourth installment of the series, along with the usual vignettes of humorous cat behavior we can all relate to, we have two story lines. One involves Mr. Kanda’s old competitor, who finds himself with an unexpected cat and is aided in learning cat care by Kanda. The other finds Kanda invited to a concert and starting to confront his panic attacks. This also involves Mr. Hibino, the old rival and new friend. There is a lot of realizations made by various characters, and a darling meeting between family members. Five stars.

 

A Man & His Cat, book 3, by Umi Sakurai. Square Enix Co Ltd

The third volume of this delightful series shows us more vignettes of Kanda and Fukumaru interacting: Kanda trying to read and Fukumaru laying on his book, Fukumaru demanding more food right after eating, Fukumaru trying to get Kanda’s food. And, then, a horrifying event! Fukumaru must go to the vet and, as the woman at the pet store says, get his cherries picked! Which proves to be more stressful to Kanda than to Fukumaru. We see more of Kanda’s past, and why he no longer performs on stage. There are some panels where the characters… over emote? Over react emotionally? that seemed kind of strange. Kanda’s lifelong friend, Kobayashi, turns out to be a deeper human being than he first seemed. And we see Fukumaru’s childhood, which about broke my heart. Then there is a kind of soap opera-ish interaction with one of Kanda’s old competitors- who also suddenly ends up with a cat. Altogether another (mostly) sweet story. The “mostly” part being the weird emotional over reacting.

 

The Night Garden, by Lisa Van Allen. Random House LLC 2014

Having seen the author’s work compared to that of Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen, I had great hopes for this book. That the book is set in a farm and garden made it even more appealing to me; that the garden is a maze, with many garden ‘rooms’, which is expanded each year sealed the deal. And, oh, yes, there are humans in the novel, too. Olivia Pennywort runs the farm/garden, and has a secret behind why she never touches anyone or allows them to touch her. Her father lives self-exiled in a shack in the ravine behind the farm. Sam Van Winkle, Olivia’s childhood best friend, has returned to the valley as a policeman, following a previous life as a pilot all over. Several Penny Loafers- women who wander in with no job prospects and no money- live in the barn in summer, some the same women every year, some different. They work the farm and garden in payment for room and board. They also seek an answer to their futures, because supposedly walking the maze will reveal the answer as to what they should do. Sadly, the maze has never given Olivia any advice…. Even though she sleeps many nights in the inner garden, a locked, cement walled, room filled with poisonous plants that no one else is allowed into.

Sadly, I was let down. There was nothing egregiously wrong, but it was just… kind of flat. The characters never came to life. The plot had a few problems for the characters to solve, but mostly it just ambled along, with the characters emo-ing. I loved the idea behind the garden, but even it never really became the magical landscape I thought it would- and some botanical errors made me grumpy. The ‘villain’ was pretty ineffectual.

It had so much potential, but it failed to fulfil it. I can only give it 3 stars.