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東京,全世界最大的巨型都市之一
一隻花斑貓穿行其中,串連起看似不相關的眾生相
身為這個國度的「外人」,是否注定就是無法融入這座城市?
是否只能永遠與孤獨自處?
啊,在這浩瀚城市之夜,唯一能成眠者
僅一隻青貓的影子
一隻貓的影子,訴說著人類的悲傷歷史
我所渴望的幸福藍影。
這是座活著的城市,它日夜變動不休,從刺青開始一針針深入這個國家的文化背景與社會環境,藉由消失在這地圖上的謎樣花斑貓開啟連結,與表面上互不相干的陌生人擦身而過──叛逆少女與傳統刺青師、潛居在廢棄膠囊旅館中的流浪漢、因快打旋風而一起搭上夜班電車的男女、承擔家庭巨變的計程車司機、孤獨的美國女孩、一心嫁給白人的高傲女子、不願離開家的蟄居者與拒絕上學的男孩……花斑貓串起這座城市所有孤單、疏離的靈魂。
透過一段段迷人、看似互無關聯,卻環環相扣的故事,講述著人與人之間在這帶有獨特個性的城市裡生活、生存,卻在無意間產生的互動連結,看似疏離、自我毀滅,或尋求認同,袒露出人對於歸屬的渴望與面對人際關係與環境變遷的需求與困境。
本中文書介出自《貓與城市》時報文化出版企業股份有限公司出版
In Tokyo—one of the world's largest megacities—a stray cat is wending her way through the back alleys. And, with each detour, she brushes up against the seemingly disparate lives of the city-dwellers, connecting them in unexpected ways. But the city is changing. As it does, it pushes her to the margins where she chances upon a series of apparent strangers—from a homeless man squatting in an abandoned hotel, to a shut-in hermit afraid to leave his house, to a convenience store worker searching for love. The cat orbits Tokyo's denizens, drawing them ever closer. In a series of spellbinding, interlocking narratives—with styles ranging from manga to footnotes—Nick Bradley has hewn a novel of interplay and estrangement; of survival and self-destruction; of the desire to belong and the need to escape. Formally inventive and slyly political, The Cat and The City is a lithe thrill-ride through the less-glimpsed streets of Tokyo.
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