吾輩は猫である

I enjoyed this overall, but found it a slow and difficult read that I only got through at perhaps half the speed I can read a more average novel. The cat, as narrator, loves complicated sentences, and never uses a simple word when a more obscure one is available -- expect to be doing a lot of dictionary lookups (and the amount of furigana provided depends a lot on which edition you're reading). It might be among the hardest books I've managed to actually finish.

The other source of trouble here is that the text has a ton of references and allusions to the Western, Japanese and Chinese literary canon. I would have been totally lost if I wasn't reading a version with a lot of endnotes that explained most of these references (and even with them, it takes time flipping back and forth and reading the endnotes).

Content-wise: this was published in a magazine, in installments, and I think it takes Soseki a while to figure out what he wants to write, so the first chapter isn't entirely representative. It settles down after a while to a bit less cat hijinx and more observations of and conversations between people (who are mostly highly educated university grads showing off about their literary knowledge). I’m interested in the period it’s set in and the Japanese/Western interaction that’s one of the themes, so it works for me.

If you want easier Soseki, I liked Sanshiro – same author, same setting, vastly easier read.