40 pages • 1 hour read
The Cat Who Saved Books
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Third Labyrinth: The Seller of Books”
Sayo is concerned about Rintaro’s continued absence from school, and their classmate Ryota encourages her to check on him. She finds Rintaro at the shop, who confirms that he’s scheduled to move in two days. Tiger appears and announces the mission for the third labyrinth, requesting Sayo’s help. He leads them to the skyscraper headquarters of the World’s Best Books publishing company.
There, the company president (the Seller of Books) defends his practice of treating books as disposable products, publishing only guaranteed bestsellers. As he speaks, thousands of books are thrown from the windows of nearby buildings. Rintaro argues that the president’s desperate focus on sales reveals a hidden love for books. The president’s cold facade breaks, the book throwing stops, and Tiger, Rintaro, and Sayo are allowed to leave. Back in the shop, Tiger reveals that his true purpose was to help Rintaro overcome his grief, says a final farewell, and vanishes.
Chapter 3 Analysis
The third labyrinth is an allegory for The Corruption of Reading in the Modern World, shifting the novel’s critique from the flawed philosophies of individuals to the systemic, corporate devaluation of literature. The labyrinth is located in the skyscraper headquarters of World’s Best Books, a major publishing company.
