I liked the story well enough, but was not fully invested or felt any kind of suspense. It is a nice audiobook for a short sweet time - although also a little melancholic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the audiobook

I was excited to listen to this. The description seemed perfect for a cat lover! Though I did enjoy it there were some things that made me cringe. She has moments where I really thought she shouldn't own a cat. The audio was also a little confusing if you weren't paying attention since her cats name is Mii. I would be confused on why she was doing something like going through a crack in the wall when really it was her cat. Overall not my favorite but I'm glad I have it a shot!

This was not what I expected when starting this one. It was not the cozy feel-good read about a cat and her care taker and their life together. I found that I have very little in common with our narrator and the way she talked and often treated her cat was not my idea of a caring owner. She was downright irresponsible most of the time, which just made me sad. It felt like she used her cat as a plot device for most of this book.

3.75
This was an intriguing reflection on a solitary life with a cat. Over the span of 20 years, Inaba articulates her life in 1970-90s Japan from countryside to city bustle. She and Mii are each other’s constant in those years from big moments to the mundane routines in life. The range of a cat’s full life in a human’s longer one.

Inaba’s writing is straightforward and timely. I liked the inserts of poetry at the end of some chapters having since realized that Inaba’s is a recognized poet. Ginny Tapley Takemori’s translation felt aptly done in describing Inaba’s life and thoughts to foreign readers. Nancy Wu’s narration had a reflective tone that fit this memoir.

Regarding the content, this book has a more bittersweet and meloncholy tone and storyline. The US title translation foreshadows this. I noticed that the stories that Inaba chose to share were often sad. They are isolated to stories with Mii’s presence which I think really highlighted the solitary and isolated life. That being said, I can see how the UK title can lead to other expectations. Some of Inaba’s decisions are controversial. I probably would have done different things, but I think it’s important to take in account that in the 1980-90s there was a different attitude towards pets in the US and probably the same in Japan (I’m trying to research this). Inaba appeared overall aloof to her choices and the realities of owning an (outside-seeking) cat. Inaba initially published this in Japan in 1999, relatively near Mii’s death, which doesn’t give much time to reflect. Furthermore, for me, I did find the US title misleading in that it led me to believe a reflection on life since Mii’s passing would be more prevalent that it was actually. We really only got a couple days/week or so. Overall, a personal narrative of feline companionship.

Very heartwarming. Loved that this memoir was written along the timeline of a cats life instead of the whole authors life, it was refreshing. I loved the human-animal bond that was portrayed in this.

This is such a lovely memoir. It is about Inaba's intimate and caring relationship with her cat, yes, but also very much about Inaba herself. I am not a cat lover, but I was very touched by Inaba's devotion to the cat and thoroughly enjoyed the spare prose.

Being a cat lover, this book really touched me. Nancy Wu's narration was spot on. When, Mayumi finds an abandoned kitten outside her apartment, she never expects how the kitten who she names Mii will change both their lives. Beautiful writing though a little too descriptive of the cat's health issues for me.

As an American veterinarian in the year 2025, my first instinct is horror at the retelling of Mii’s death. Yes, humane euthanasia would have been a much faster and kinder end. However, I do also acknowledge that this book was based in a culture and time period much different from the one I currently inhabit. TLDR: I am understanding of my bias in this situation and am not coming from a judgmental place, but I also didn’t enjoy listening to the last 30% of this book.

That being said, I do think that this is a moving depiction of different kinds of loss and grief, and I appreciate that.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

This book was so touching. The love Mayumi Inaba has for her sweet cat Mii was so heartwarming, even if the story itself was very sad. A beautiful translation

This is unusual because it's not a straight memoir and it's not a straight pet story. I didn't get it at first, but then I started thinking of my own relationship with my pets. I didn't get a pet until I was older and everything in my life ends up touched by my furry companions. You start out thinking of the pet independently and then your lives become entwined and memories of a time period remind me of the pet I had then.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this sweetly narrated audiobook

A moving and eloquently rendered memoir charting the author Mayumi Inaba's life from when she opened her home and heart to a kitten in 1977, to acting on her passion for writing, and years later with Mii's death..

The twenty years from Mi's adoption to the author's search for a place to write, and after Mi's death, are related in delicate, gentle prose. We share Inaba's delight and fascination with Mii's growth and antics, and fierce, independent spirit, while Inaba squeezes her writing around her work and home life.

After Inaba lost her job as an interior designer, the financial stresses fractured her marriage. Following a new job, she discovered that what she really wanted was a writing life, and had to figure out how to find the space and the quiet to create, whether novels or prose, even if it meant never reuniting with her husband. The one constant in her life for many years later, was Mii, stomping around and playing, or hanging about Inaba's legs while she was writing.

I was a little uncomfortable initially when Inaba related her early years with Mii and Mii's health issues, but I realized cat care and knowledge about cat health was different in the 1970s compared to now.

The prose is meditative, and I felt soothed while listening to this. I was in tears by the end, however, as hearing of Mii's failing body reminded me keenly of one of my cats, and her recent, sudden loss of life thanks to an aggressive cancer. Voice actor Nancy Wu conveys the author's emotions beautifully in the audiobook. I loved the way she inhabits Inaba's words, giving them life.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Mornings Without Mii is an interesting take on a memoir that explores the author's life through her 20 year relationship with her cat. I really loved this take on a memoir; as someone's whose whole life has been accompanied by pets, it was very relatable to me to characterize parts of her life by before Mii, during Mii, after Mii.

I thought that the writing was descriptive and beautiful, and I could really feel the author's grief at the loss of her precious cat.

I know that many reviews of this book call the treatment of the cat as cruel and abusive, and if I saw someone treating their animal this way today, I would definitely agree. That being sad, this book began in the 1970s and went into the 90s, and I think that pet ownership, especially not in the US looked very different than it does here. My point, is that the author loved her cat so much that her entire life revolved around her, and I think it is a pity that so many people are quick to call her cruel when she was doing what she thought and understood to be the best for her cat at the time.

I really like memoirs and especially enjoyed how this memoir was told through the lens of her relationship with a cat. As a writer I really enjoyed Mayumi's story

Thank you NetGalley for the audio ARC. This is a beautiful meditation on having a cat. A must read for any cat lover.

Mornings without Mii is a biography and if you were expecting a fiction then this is not. The author wrote about her time spent with a cat named Mii as well as occasionally reminiscing about the past encounters with cats. Now, to my thoughts I was enjoying this book however the author's treatment towards mii was quite disturbing ( when Mii climbed the tree instead of helping her she loved her helpless screams and cries of help despite the fact that Mii had a fear of heights and when there was an emergency operation she knew that there was something wrong with Mii days before but ignored it) and to be honest if you are a pet parent you will at least be attentive of your pet's day to day activities and any changes henceforth. Besides that the ending is deeply scaring and I'm not sure how to explain that without any spoilers.

Her writing style is good but the periscope of events and her actions didn't sit well with me. All I have to say is that this book is not a warm, cosy and snug read. I thought of giving it a 3 stars but I'm sorry I can't because believe me Mii would have been saved from many unnecessary scares and life threatening situations if only the author have been attentive.