Well, I finished the book. Tedious is the best word to describe it. I would have liked more of the cat insights and less of the human dialogue. I missed the cat's interactions with other animals in the latter half of the book. The discussion amongst the scholars just went on too long at times which took away from the insight of the passages and what could have been funnier. By continuing to the end, it did complete some of the threads of the stories - like the burglar is caught and we find out if Coldmoon marries Opula Goldfield. And, the scholars even laugh at themselves for dragging a story on longer than necessary!
I don't regret learning about this author. Clearly he is important and considered one of the greatest authors in Japanese literature. His portrait was on the Japanese 1000 yen note for 20 years. That's a long time! Haruki Murakami has said Sōseki is his favorite author. Since this month's topic was about debuts, I also wanted to learn more about the author and his works. I thought this article in the Times Literary Supplement is a good overview.
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/p...-umami-soseki/