I actually read this in November it was a book club pick but I just hadn’t gotten around to writing a review for it yet, so after taking a little break from this space, I am starting the year catching up on a few things.
Days At The Morisaki Bookshop
Satoshi Yagisawa
The moving international sensation about new beginnings, human connection, and the joy of reading.
Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, is a booklover’s paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building lies a shop filled with hundreds of second-hand books.
Twenty-five-year-old Takako has never liked reading, although the Morisaki bookshop has been in her family for three generations. It is the pride and joy of her uncle Satoru, who has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife Momoko left him five years earlier.
When Takako’s boyfriend reveals he’s marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle’s offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above the shop. Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop.
As summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.
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This is a hard one to sum up my thoughts on, I went into this story hoping for some cosy and lighthearted vibes and whilst the first half of the book manages to capture the feeling I was hoping for, the second half I found a bit more difficult to get through.
There are some pretty marvellous descriptions of the setting that made it come to life, what could be better than a bookshop situated in a street full of bookshops with a lovely community spirit. I enjoyed getting to experience this community as Takako moved into the bookshop and rediscovers her joy for reading and life generally, with the help of her uncle and others.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really warm to Takako, I wouldn’t say for a book that is driven mostly by its characters she was the right type of person to carry this story. I also felt like the characters didn’t seem to have much substance, especially the female characters, which was surprising because they were the story’s main focus.
In the book’s second half, as the focus turns toward Momoko, Takako’s aunt, the story takes a weird turn. I didn’t feel like I understood why Takako and her uncle kept giving Momoko a chance and this is where I felt the book get longer and longer. I have read full-length novels in less time than it took me to get through this book.
I stuck with it hoping that it would recapture the joy of the first half and it did somewhat but not in a way that managed to pull the story back.
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 